The Distance to Here
by TheWayfaringStranger
Summary: Post Journey's End. "Rose," he said when he could speak. "You have to teach me how to do this. Teach me how to be human." 10.5/Rose, Pete's World Torchwood, time lord mind tricks, zeppelins, running, romance and adventure. Now complete.
1. Part I: Her Plus One

**Author's Note: **That's right, I caved and had to write my own Alt!Fic even though I told myself I wouldn't. This story continues _right_ after "Full Circle" (starting with Rose's viewpoint) and will have Ten/Rose time lord mind-tricks in it again ala "Days of Ice and Fire" (but reading my other fics is not needed to get this one).

Angst has been kept minimal. Teenage-level romance has been excluded entirely to the best of my ability. Sex is ramped up whenever possible (coming up in the next chapter). And this is NOT wedding! or baby!fic. It does feature, however, Rose and Alt!Doctor coming to grips with the minutiae of the slow path, some mourning, and light adventure. Title of story comes from my favourite album by the band called Live.

_I'm aware what the rules are  
But you know that I will run  
You know that I will follow you  
Over Silbury Hill  
Through the solar field  
You know that I will follow you. _— Tori Amos, 1000 Oceans

* * *

**Part I: Her Plus-One  
**

_He needs you, and that's very me._

The wind off Bad Wolf Bay was blowing Rose's hair all around her. Strands of it would whip across her vision every so often, slicing the sight of the Doctor cross-ways, so one moment he would be split into two or three sections, sometimes even more, and in her confused mind, still struggling with the latest turn of events, she couldn't understand who this person was who was before her, and why her mind was still seeing more than one of him, even after the TARDIS had faded away.

Doctor. Alien. Capable of regeneration. Capable of changing his look, his face. Capable of making copies of himself too, apparently. And capable of confounding her in so many ways that used to in turn delight and distress her. Leaving her behind in Pete's universe with this human copy... felt like it belonged in the latter category.

But this hand in hers was so very familiar. The look on his face was sober, while his eyes—his eyes, they always looked like some storm was raging within. She'd seen them both brown and blue, and it was strange how even now she could see the blue eyes of his previous (or was it previous previous) body looking at her. Often, in the early days after they'd first met, the look in his eyes had been wondering, sometimes incredulous, that she wanted to travel with him, and could accept him as _her_ companion...the same look was in his eyes now.

"It _is _you..." she breathed.

A small quirk of his lips, and the skin around his eyes crinkled a little as the Doctor smiled in relief. But the smile quickly slipped, and he remained silent. Rose did not know what to say.

"You two," said her mother, cutting into the silence between them. "I just got off the phone with your father, and did he give me an earful!" Rose fought faint amusement at the familiar tone her mother was already taking with the _both_ of them. _Your father._ "He isn't coming up here, he said, and told me to tell you to tell Torchwood to beam us home. Said he was mad at me for going off gallivanting and leaving him with your brother since this morning—"

"This morning?" Rose interrupted, shaking her head. Her brain seemed to be lagging behind her instincts today. And it was a struggle to shift her attention from the Doctor to world catastrophes again. "Mum, did he say 'this morning'? It was dark... There was nothing but the darkness when I left earlier..."

Jackie frowned. "It was for me and Mickey too, now that you mention it..."

The Doctor's voice cut in. "The time line's been rewritten a bit in this universe. At least for you—" he nodded at Rose, "And you," he nodded at Jackie, "because, you know, we saved the cosmos," he shrugged his shoulders in pretend nonchalance, "and because time moves a little faster in this universe, history changed a little here so that the darkness never happened, the stars in this universe shine on since Davros' reality bomb did _not_ get used (as intended), the Daleks were defeated, thanks to yours truly, so the sun's still shining today and you had a 'this morning'. _Voilà_." He gestured around him. "All in a day's work, in a manner of speaking, now that we have _days_ again."

Rose grinned despite herself. That was _very_ him.

"Though, if the darkness did not happen here, that means I'd never have gotten Torchwood to let me go universe-hopping to find you," Rose pointed out, though she knew the explanation for all this, really. All this travelling with him years ago had changed her. Torchwood had as well.

As the Doctor turned to look at her, she felt her smile growing on her face, and it was echoed on his.

"Paradox!" they whooped together. They laughed, almost desperately with relief and nostalgia, as Jackie regarded them with impatience.

"You two," Jackie said in a huff. "If you're so clever, get us home! Now!"

With an apologetic smile, Rose disengaged her hand from the Doctor's. She reached into her pocket for her phone, the Doctor watching her curiously all the while. (He had that eyebrow raised.) She tried not to be self-conscious as she dialled and waited for an answer.

"Torchwood One. M-Miss Tyler?" said the voice on the phone. The slight stutter and ascending pitch told Rose that it was Brendan answering. The young technician had a crush on her, one that she'd always tried to rebuff to no avail.

"I need a teleport," Rose said. "Three people to pick up, to, er, transfer to the Tyler Estate. Pete's orders."

"OK, I'm g-getting your location from the s-satellite..." There was the faint tapping of keys. Then a pause. "You're in...um, _Dalig Ulv..._ You're in N-Norway?"

"Yes, in fact the computer should recognize the coordinates." Rose had put them into the Torchwood database herself. She had kept a watch on the beach often, almost hoping for a crack between the worlds to appear again even if it meant universes would be destroyed. And then one day the cracks _had_ appeared again.

"From 'Bad Wolf Bay' to the Typer Estate it is, then, M-Miss Tyler. Three people? You, your m-mum and Mickey?"

"Mickey's gone," said Rose. As she did, she felt a small pang of regret. He had always been a good friend, probably better than she had deserved. Now the other universe had its Mickey back in it again, and the other Doctor as well. Her lip trembled despite herself. "I mean, he's, um, he's..." Great, now _she_ was stuttering. "He's OK, I mean, he just went back to his old universe." _Like the other Doctor. _

"Oh... _really? _He could go back?" Amazement was clear in Brendan's voice. Rose had spoken to him of the other universe before, had long burdened him with her intentions to find a way back herself as well.

"Yes," said Rose, and suddenly she was conscious that the phone conversation was already taking longer than it needed to, and there were two people staring at her having it.

"Does that m-mean you're going to go b-b-back too, Miss Tyler?" said the voice on the phone.

_I tried and I got dumped back here,_ Rose wanted to say, but she couldn't. Her mum and the Doctor (the new new Doctor) were standing behind her. "I did, and I'm back now, and _Brendan, _we need a transfer," Rose said with emphasis. Her mother rolled her eyes as she heard Brendan's name. The Doctor shot Jackie a questioning look, and Jackie only shook her head.

"I t-take it you mean the really, really q-quick way?"

"Yes!" she said with some frustration, but tempered it by turning it into a laugh. "Listen, whenever you please... We're at Bad Wolf Bay. It's just us. Three to teleport. It's my mum, me, and plus-one." She didn't look at the Doctor as she said it.

"G-got it, Miss Tyler."

"Thank you." She shut her phone, and took the Doctor's hand in hers. "Torchwood teleport," she explained quickly to him. "This may be rough—"

The world went white.

Then green and azure.

"—Over long distances but at least it works," Rose finished. The Doctor's hand was still in hers. They were standing a few feet away from the driveway leading to the Tyler mansion. Her mum was already starting to walk toward the house, where Pete and Tony were surely waiting for her. Above, the sky was blue and cloudless. The grass was green, the air faintly scented with late spring flowers. The scene, dazzling in the bright sunlight of mid-afternoon, was a bit of a shock after the gloom of Bad Wolf Bay.

"I'm your plus-one," said the Doctor beside her. Rose looked at him. He looked slightly green but a smile was plastered on his face. "I can't believe it—_you're_ taking me places..."

Rose gave a little laugh. "Yeah. Stick with me, kid, and I'll show you things you've never seen," she tried to do some sort of Brooklyn gangster accent, and reckoned she failed miserably. Ah, humour. The last refuge of the awkward.

"Well, this _is_ a new-ish universe for me," he said. He still looked green. This Doctor _did_ have a normal human constitution... Rose gripped his arms and examined him; he was breathing hard and looking a bit peaked. He needed a rest, and probably liquids. Firmly, concern for his comfort banishing her awkwardness for the moment, she steered him to the front door of the house.

"You look terrible," she said by way of explanation.

"Oi," he said, insulted.

"That teleport could do a number on anyone. Let alone someone in a new body. Look, here's a chair." She practically pushed him onto it, one of the chairs in the parlour. "Can someone bring me some water?" she yelled towards the kitchen.

"Rose Tyler, Defender of Earth, taking me places and giving orders," the Doctor said. One side of his mouth was curled up as he gazed at her.

"That's right." Rose knelt beside him. His colour was returning, if slowly. Delia, one of their hired help, approached them with a glass of water on a silver tray.

"Ros—I mean, Ma'am," said Delia. "Some water."

Rose nodded her thanks and took the glass, pressing it to the Doctor's hand.

"Should I call a doctor for him?" asked Delia.

"Do I look that bad?" the Doctor muttered.

Rose shook her head.

"Ma'am?"

"No," said Rose.

"Do you need anything else, Ma'am?"

"Um. The guest room. Get it ready. And note we'll have one extra person with us for supper."

"And dessert. And breakfast," added the Doctor.

"Right. What he said. Thank you, Delia."

They were alone in the parlour again. With one look, Rose made the Doctor finish his glass of water. It was easier directing him, giving him orders, taking care of him, then talking about what had just happened on the beach. Why, why did she feel like she had just lost so much, when this Doctor was here right in front of her? Why, why was her heart breaking for someone else, when this should be a moment to celebrate getting her heart's desire?

"Guest room," said the Doctor solemnly. Somehow he made it sound like a question. Maybe it was her imagination.

"If you want," said Rose. She combed her hair with her fingers, away from her face. "You gave me my own room, in the TARDIS..."

"I did."

"Right. You can have that here too, if you want." Those three last words seemed to be the operative words for the day. "Only here, well, all the rooms are smaller on the inside than they are on the outside." It was a lame little joke but a small chuckle escaped the Doctor. "This house is huge though, so there's that..." Rose trailed off.

He was looking at her as if the house didn't exist. He raised a hand to her cheek and helped her brush some hair out of her face, with a touch so light she could barely feel it.

"This guest room... is it far from yours?" he asked.

It was just beside her room. She swallowed as she gazed into his brown eyes. "Too far," she said.

"Is it? Oh well," he said mildly. "Ordinary walls could not keep me away from you now, Rose Tyler." He gave her a small smile. "Mind you, I _could _just mess the guest room up just for appearances or use it for hiding out from Jackie."

Rose felt an answering smile spreading across her face. "And why would you need to hide?"

"Well... I don't know. I'm sure things'll come up." He grinned at her before looking down at their hands in his lap and going quiet. Rose was equally silent as she watched him run his fingers gently over hers. The contact with his skin was affirmation he was here with her, and while it might take her some time, she knew he _was_ the Doctor, perhaps not _her_ Doctor, but if he did have his memories, his thoughts, and his mind, then it _was_ him. One part of him. It might not have been the outcome she had wished for or could even have imagined, but it _was_ the outcome they had to work with.

"How do you feel?" she asked quietly.

He shook his head, swallowed and keep his gaze on their hands. When he spoke, it was slow and halting. "Rose... his gob of mine... I can say a lot when there's nothing to say. And now..."

She squeezed his hand. How could she think only of her own hurt, when he had his own? He had just been ripped away forever from the universe he had known; she was one of the few who knew what _that_ felt like. But then again, he was over nine hundred years old, and had had the TARDIS, and all of time and space to explore. No longer. She couldn't imagine what that felt like at all.

There were things about him she might never understand, but was determined she would love and accept anyway—she always had. She drew closer to him, though her knees protested at their protracted session on the floor kneeling beside him.

"I'm here with you," she said. "I... I tried everything to look for you, to find you. Whatever you need, whatever you want, I'm here. I'm not going away."

A smile quirked his lips for a second. "Good. That's brilliant. Rose, I..." his voice faded off again. Rose knew him well enough to detect frustration as he struggled for words.

"Don't need to say anything," Rose said for him. She struggled to her feet, ignored her knees as now her legs fairly buzzed with pain as they regained their blood circulation. She kept one of the Doctor's hands in hers and tugged on it gently. "I can show you to your room. Or my room. Whichever." She knew that in the parlour, Pete or Jackie or the help could walk in at any time, and she wasn't much in the mood for their company. She missed the TARDIS. The whole world went away whenever she was in there with him. The Tyler mansion was nothing quite like that, unfortunately.

The Doctor got on his feet as well. He seemed back to normal after the teleport, but Rose still took it slowly as she led him up the stairs to her room. Every step she took seemed heavy with import, and as they drew closer to her room, she was aware of her heart beating harder, faster. They were alone. They were _alone._ The house seemed strangely silent, as if it was breathless with anticipation. Rose mentally blessed her mum as she recalled how Jackie had hurried away as soon as they had arrived at the mansion earlier. It was her mum's own little way of giving Rose and the Doctor the time and space they needed.

Rose paused outside the door to her room, her hand on the knob. "It will be messy," she warned.

The Doctor's head was cocked. "So?"

Indeed. She had no idea why she was nervous.

She pushed the door open.

* * *

There were many firsts they were dealing with, mused the Doctor, almost too fast to grasp as they happened, and looking at Rose's room at her invitation was one of them. He said nothing as she let go of his hand and starting picking clothes off of the floor and the bed. She disappeared through another door he assumed led to an adjoining bathroom, and returned after (he assumed again) tossing them into a laundry hamper. She smiled at him apologetically.

"I told you it was a mess."

"Neatness is overrated," said the Doctor, taking it in. The clothes had been only part of the mess. A surprising amount of the room was still hidden under papers and some formidable looking folders and reference books and gadgetry. He couldn't say if this was something he had expected of Rose. He peered at some of the papers and reached, out of habit, for his reading glasses, only to realize he'd left them in his _other_ jacket.

Of course.

He frowned. It did not go unnoticed by Rose.

"We can get you a new pair." She grinned brightly. "Can't have you without the fashion accessory that indicates when you're in Geek Mode."

"Hey now," he said.

"We can even go right now, if you want. Though, I do need a shower," she said. "Take a seat or something. I'll be back in a few." She was now rifling through her wardrobe.

"Slipping into something more comfortable?" said the Doctor. "Just for me?"

She looked over at him, saw the look on his face and rolled her eyes. "Right." Fresh clothes in hand, she entered the bathroom again and shut the door behind her. The sound of falling water followed soon after.

The Doctor picked some papers off the bed and sat down on the cleared space. He was unsurprised to see many of the papers were Torchwood documents. Books littered the bed as well, and they were not light reading—particle physics, hyperspace theories and research journals—and all this being read by a girl who said she'd never completed her A-levels. All this effort being taken even if the walls between the universes had never been threatened...

The Doctor swallowed past a small choke in his throat as he ran his hands over the books and papers, her possessions. He had told her before that she would never see him again, and she had gone and surprised him, had travelled through universes to find him, had more than once proven him wrong in what he had thought was possible. In many ways he could still barely wrap his mind around that. He blinked at the stinging moisture in his eyes as memories of missing her hit him, and the import of how she must have felt the same for him, if not stronger still... because she had never given up. All around this room lay the evidence. Alien artifacts she had brought home to study, academic journals that would surely bore the hardiest scientist to tears, and surely the complete library of Torchwood's classified files on alien technology... all here.

His vision blurred till he could no longer see the room, but the sight was burned now into his memory. She might never guess how this "mess" was such a testament to herself, to her strength and determination and brilliance. He still couldn't believe he was here.

The door to the bathroom opened, startling him. In the corner of his eye he was aware of Rose with damp hair and in a simple ensemble of T-shirt and sweatpants. She padded over to him, pushed some papers off the bed and sat beside him. She smelled of flowers and sandalwood.

"That was quick," said the Doctor, filling the silence. But his voice sounded thick and muffled.

She touched him. He almost jumped at the electricity as her warmth and humanity connected with him again, touched this new body of his. Her skin against his, the atoms of her existence bumping against his own. _Here, here, _he could almost imagine the cells of her body singing to him, _I'm here, I'm here._ It was just a simple touch, such a familiar touch, the feel of her hand covering his... and now he was drowning—relief, guilt, and old pain, new loss and uncertainty and loneliness washing over him, white heat ripping through his chest and tearing his breath out in sobs. He lifted his fingers to his face and found it warm—hot with tears. His mind had been almost uncomprehending of it all since the first second on the stolen earth when he'd set eyes on Rose again, till the moment on Bad Wolf Bay where the TARDIS and Donna and the access to all previous friends and companions were lost to him forever. No time to process any of it, until now... now that he was here and no longer running.

The pain reached an unbearable level as he felt Rose's arms encircle him—he was unworthy of the comfort she offered—then it eased as she laid finally her head upon his shoulder and he felt the shudders that ran through her body. He could not pretend to know what was making her cry as they held each other; he could only stroke her back, offering what reassurance he could as his own hurt slowly starting receding into the background. They held each other in silence long after the episode passed. It was a while before Rose drew a shaky breath and said (apologetically again): "I think I ruined your jacket."

A small sad laugh broke out of him. "If you wanted it off, Rose, you had only to ask," he said.

"I didn't want to scare you," she replied. He could hear a little smile in her voice and tightened his arms around her.

"I missed you," he said, the words tumbling out of him. "I didn't say that to you before, did I? I missed you. I want to know everything, everything you've been up to, what you do here in this universe. I want to know everything I've missed."

She drew back from their embrace and looked at him. "That might take a while." They gazed at each other. The Doctor saw her as she was now... older, her face free of make-up, her eyes and nose a little red, her hair damp and in a mess, but she was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. He wondered what _he_ looked like to her.

"I don't care. We have time, don't we?"

She smiled gently. "Yeah, we do."

"If you need somewhere to start, maybe you could tell me who Brendan was. And if there are any other suitors for your hand I need to fight off in this universe," the Doctor said.

She gaped at him in incomprehension. "...Suitors for my what...? Oh. Oh my god." She burst into laughter.

It was good to hear her laugh. He kept her hand in his hand as he looked around for some way for them to get comfortable. Rose read his mind, and with her other hand swept a huge swathe of books and papers off the bed dramatically. The Doctor lay back on one side of the bed, leaving a space beside him, for her. Possessively he clung to her hand and held it to his chest. Rose settled down beside him on her side. She laid her head on his shoulder as his free arm wrapped around her.

And as she started to speak, the world went away.

* * *

Rose woke in her dimly lit bedroom with a gasp and a groan. Muscles ached and the bed felt unfamiliar; she was so seldom in it, what with getting her sleep in small snatches either at Torchwood or on zeppelins between Torchwoods or in different universes the past several weeks. As consciousness returned, her mind found itself grappling with more immediate, unfamiliar thoughts—thoughts about the Doctor and the fact that his human counterpart was in this universe with her and that she'd lost track of him since last night when she'd actually fallen asleep at the dinner table while eating with him, her mum, Pete, and Tony. She could only recall vaguely her mother's voice, fading in and out and telling her to get to bed and what felt like many hands helping her up to her room. She couldn't recall being put into her bed.

She looked around. The light in her room was coming from the small lamp on her dressing table, and in front of the dressing table, in her armchair, with his feet on a pile of books, sprawled the Doctor. He appeared to be sleeping (and still in his jacket), and as she watched, a tiny snore escaped him. She smiled. He was going to wake up with such a crick in the neck if he didn't move soon.

Ignoring the complaints from her own muscles, she rose from the bed and walked over to him. The alarm clock on her bedside table told her it was past four in the morning. She took his hand gently.

"Doctor."

A deep breath. His body stirred and he blinked at her for a moment. "Rose?" he said, his voice thick with sleep. His fingers tightened around hers instinctively before he realized where he was and also looked at the time on her clock.

"You can't be very comfortable there," she said.

He smiled a little bashfully. "Was OK," he said.

"There's space here," she said, referring to the bed. "I'll behave, I promise."

The smile he gave her was boyish, and her heart lightened with the joy and amusement on his face.

"The jacket'll have to come off, though," she said.

"Yes, Ma'am."

She shook out and pulled back the duvet on the bed as he divested himself of the blue jacket. She settled back on the bed, slipping her legs under the covers, and watched as he turned off the lamp. Darkness claimed the room. The Doctor climbed into the bed beside her. As her eyes adjusted, she could see him lying in front of her, on his side, his face not too far from hers. His eyes shone.

"Hi," she said, smiling at him. Her heart could scarce believe he was here, and so close.

"Hi," he returned.

As one, they reached for each other's hand.

"I don't remember much of what happened at dinner," whispered Rose in the darkness. "Did I miss a lot?"

"Other than the time you fell into your soup asleep and then Tony tried to follow your example?"

She stuck her tongue out at him, but didn't know how much of that he could see. "That did not happen. Liar."

She could see him grin.

"So," he said. "Are you tired? Going back to sleep now?"

"I'm still a little tired," she admitted. "You? New human body, and all that?"

"I don't know."

It wasn't the answer she expected, but she supposed this was new to him. And while she was tired, she also didn't know if she could go back to sleep. The Doctor seemed to be the same. They looked at each other in the darkness. She was almost fading away again before the Doctor moved closer to give her a gentle kiss on the lips. It was the first time he was initiating one, that she could remember. It was short, and quite chaste. A meeting of soft, moist lips that barely opened. A kiss that did not ask for anything, except perhaps, to stay here with her.

"Goodnight," the Doctor whispered, and she smiled. She moved closer into his arms, and he wrapped them around her. As she dropped off into slumber again, the smell of him reminded her of the TARDIS.

They slept.

* * *

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**


	2. Part Human

**Author's Note: **I don't know what this chapter says about me. Maybe you can let me know. It's probably a good things I don't get onto zeppelins very often. Second chapter of the story and we're already into the 'M' bits.

* * *

**Part II: Part Human  
**

"Wednesday," said Rose at breakfast.

"What?" said the Doctor.

"It's a Wednesday. Sorry. I mean I only just found out. I lost track of time, travelling about."

"Do you have to go to work then?" They were alone in the breakfast room. The house had a room _just for breakfast._

"Yes, but..." Rose bit into a piece of toast, and thought about it. "I've not taken a day off Torchwood since... well, ever."

The Doctor looked out of the window, at the blue cloudless sky. "Seems all right, today. The world, I mean. All's right in the world. So Rose Tyler can have a day off."

"I'm already late anyway. Can you believe my father left for work today without me?"

"I can. You were dead to the world earlier this morning." It was true. She had looked exhausted.

"We can go get you your reading glasses. And clothes. Nice threads, by the way." The Doctor was wearing clothing borrowed from Pete. The shirt was too wide, the pants too loose, and too short. The Doctor's modesty was literally hanging on a belt.

"Not one word," warned the Doctor. "I heard enough about this get-up from your mother this morning. And if I hear that new nickname she got for me once again..."

Rose lit up. "Oh? What is it?"

"I'm not repeating it to you!"

"Suit yourself." She sipped her coffee. "Just a matter of time before I find out, anyway."

"Speaking of _suiting_ myself..." said the Doctor pointedly.

"Oh, yes," she smiled at him. "There's a tailor my father uses. Be a good place to take you. Do you know if he took the zep or the car today?"

"Pete? The car I think."

"Yes!" Rose exalted in the news.

The sudden realization that Rose was going to drive a zeppelin was astonishing and a little scary, the Doctor had to admit.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" asked the Doctor, fighting panic. "Couldn't you ask Torchwood to, you know, teleport us again?"

"Teleport's for _emergencies_," Rose said, like he was daft.

"But yesterday..."

"My mother is always an emergency."

"Ah." That made sense now.

"I'll teach you," said Rose, talking about the zeppelin.

This was why he'd always been travelling... to discover new things, meet new people and all that. Learning how to drive a zeppelin from Rose Tyler was one of those things he'd never have expected to experience, not in a thousand years.

"Ah... okay."

And that was the first first before noon.

* * *

He really shouldn't have been been shocked, but Rose was a pretty good pilot, and a fair teacher as well. But of course the Doctor's brilliance was probably what led him to pick up the zeppelin flying skills so quickly, if he was allowed to say so himself. Four and a half hours later, he was sitting at the zeppelin controls, had new glasses in his pocket and was in a suit that was loaned from the tailor's until they had his new ensembles ready. While the loaned jacket was a little too wide, he did feel a little better and back to normal. All he needed was a sonic screwdriver and a TARDIS and another heart to be back to his old self...

"You taking a detour?" Rose asked as she stood behind him, watching as he sat at the airship's console.

"You're not in a rush to head home, are you?" he asked. "I only just got the knack of this..."

"I can't say I really had anything planned for today," said Rose. "Didn't even plan to be back in this universe, mind you..." Her voice trailed off. The Doctor looked back at her; she was gazing out the window, over the horizon. It didn't take much for him to guess she was thinking about the other universe. The Doctor reached for her hand, and as he touched it, she blinked and smiled at him.

"Sit with me," invited the Doctor. There was an empty seat next to his. She took it, and busied herself looking at the fuel, altitude and speed displays. She was the perfect picture of _serious business_, back in her leather jacket and a simple tunic beneath it, over practical office slacks. Her hair was like a waterfall of polished bronze and gold. He loved the colour.

"Where do you want to go?" she asked, not looking at him. "Unfortunately, in this airship, all possible destinations are earthbound and limited to _now_..."

"Oh, it doesn't matter," said the Doctor, meaning what he said. "It's the company that really counts."

As she looked at him, he smiled his best smile. She returned it, and it was a sight for sore eyes. "But..." she said uncertainly.

"Rose. This is a whole new universe for me. I can only guess at its history, and at its futures, and what's out there to explore. There's so much for me to learn about it, just here and now."

She did not look like she believed him.

"Really, Rose."

"Okay."

He brought his attention back to the flying of the airship. Luckily the sky was relatively empty and didn't required white-knuckled, 100-percent attention at the helm. Beneath them, the landscape of London lazily turned along with the Earth.

"Is there any where _you'd _like to go?" he asked Rose.

Her answer was immediate. "Yes."

"Let's go there."

He removed his hands from the controls, making space for Rose so she could take over. She leaned against him as she reached for the keyboard and brought up a map display on the console screen.

"There." Rose pointed at the screen, at a spot on the north-west coast of Scotland. She hit more keys and buttons on the console, which beeped at her. Then she got up out of the chair and stretched. "Done!" she declared with a smirk.

"What?" said the Doctor. "Who's flying this thing?"

"Mr. Autopilot, Genius," said Rose with a wink at him.

The Doctor sputtered. "But you didn't... Why, you're _cheating!_"

The minx laughed at him, and jumped back as he jumped out of his chair. But she didn't go far, and it was easy capturing her in his arms and burying his face into her hair as her body continued to shake with mirth.

"I missed this. Travelling with you," confessed the Doctor softly as Rose became still and the two gazed outside the airship windows at the landscape below them. Above the ground, several airships floated in the distance.

"I did too," said Rose. "And I always had a lot of time up here alone by myself."

He could picture her as she said it. Standing here, looking outside, gazing below in silence with only the whir of the airship's engines as accompaniment. The mental image reminded him of himself, the times he had been alone in the TARDIS, after he'd lost her. His arms tightened around her.

She turned from the windows and looked up at him. He didn't know if she'd been thinking the same about him, being alone. Maybe she had been, because their minds seemed joined and as one as they kissed, almost desperately. She tasted faintly of coffee and strawberries. As her soft tongue explored his mouth, the Doctor nearly forgot to breathe, and remembering, he gasped for breath at the same time she did. Their synchronicity astonished him... encouraged, he met her soft lips with his again, marvelled at them, and lost himself in the feel of her mouth. He learned how to breathe while still kissing her, but oxygen seemed to be getting shorter and shorter in supply for the both of them, and both broke apart to draw deep gasping breaths after a while.

He felt Rose resting her head against his shoulder, felt her hot breath gentle on his neck, and even that sensation, like the kiss, were doing things to this new body that made him feel strong and weak at the same time.

"Rose," he said when he could speak. "You have to teach me how to do this. Teach me how to be human."

She stirred against him. "I thought you said you'd been human before. During your time with Martha. That you remember what that was like..."

The Doctor shook his head. "But not like this. Not _for _this..." To communicate his point, he kissed her slowly on her cheek, near her mouth.

She looked at him with a half-smile, and the Doctor watched as amusement and excitement danced in her eyes. "You always were human enough for me already, you know," she said. She turned thoughtful for a moment, and placed a hand on his chest, feeling the heartbeat beneath it. "Though, this..."

"One heart," said the Doctor, as a prompt, when Rose did not finish her sentence.

"Yes," said Rose. "One heart. And any human male will tell ya, this one heart can only send so much blood around the body at a time." A wicked smile crossed her face. "Now while that is enough, there may be times when less blood is available to keep the brain at optimum, so to speak..."

Deliberately, Rose let the hand over his heart slip slowly down to his waist, and the Doctor's knees nearly buckled.

"You're talking about arousal making human males stupid," said the Doctor.

"So to speak."

"I'm still a time lord as well," said the Doctor, a little defensively.

Rose grinned. "We don't know how much of your blood circulation is still time lord, Doctor."

That was true. And the Doctor worried even as the two of them were just standing in each other's arms, talking. Rose's words and voice were doing things to him that were completely new. Of course this was Rose, but it was also a Rose who had grown older while they were apart, older, more experienced and confident. He was discovering things about her as well. Like what her teasing was capable of stirring up in him...

"How long will it take to reach where we're going?" He captured her hand in his, the one near his waist, and placed it back over his chest.

"Hours," said Rose.

"Ah."

"Your heart rate's elevated, Doctor."

"It is." He looked into her eyes, and saw her looking back in his. Beneath her teasing bravado, he could see longing tinged with a little bit of shyness... uncertainty around him that came from her trying to discover who he was as well. Discovery... wasn't that one of the things that drove them? Even as the zeppelin flew over an England that was familiar and new to him at the same time, in his arms was a Rose who was also familiar and new to him.

The Doctor did not know what Rose was reading in his eyes. He only hoped she could see his need for her, at the same time he felt lost in it. For this was completely new territory to him. _Teach me how to do this. _Surely she would be able to hear that thought from him...

Rose stepped backward, out of his embrace. She took his hand, and walked them over to a part of the airship cabin where deep, plush banquettes lined the walls just beneath the windows. She sat down, and he sat next to her.

"What are we going to do for the next few hours?" she asked him. Her eyes never left his. She was measuring. Testing the water.

The Doctor had an answer ready. "You could run tests on my blood circulation." He pulled her closer, and wished the seats they had here were larger...

"Between us, I thought _you _were the Doctor." She kissed him tenderly on his neck.

He pressed her against the seat so he could capture her mouth with his own. "For this I need assistance," he said breathlessly after they shared a deep kiss. "And then I could run tests on you as well..."

"What kinds of tests?"

"Oh... reflexes, sensitivity, adaptability, flexibility..." The Doctor punctuated his words with another kiss. Rose moaned softly as his tongue dove into the depths of her mouth and flicked and wrestled against hers. Her mouth was warm and pliant, her body equally soft and welcoming. He kept waiting for Rose to push him away, but she never did. When he came away for breath, he was stunned to see the desire and command in her eyes. _Don't stop now. _His pulse raced as he realized where this was heading. Her eyes allowed no misunderstanding. Slowly, she ran her hands over his chest, slipping them under his jacket, then slipping them off. He helped, and then he was pulling hers off her shoulders. Before long she was pulling his tie away and undoing his shirt buttons, kissing him as she did so, and he groaned with need and anticipation and some disbelief. Rose Tyler was seducing him, and he was only too happy to go along for the ride.

"I think we can confirm that your tongue has been working splendidly," said Rose. "And ten points for the pillow talk."

"That's out of ten, right?" asked the Doctor. But she pulling his shirt open and running her hands over his skin, tasting him with her tongue. She licked and nibbled him from his jaw to his ear and as she bit gently on his ear lobe, a jolt of electricity seemed to run right through him. She steadied him with a firm but gentle hand around the back of his neck and one arm around his waist. It was just as well, because the Doctor felt like he was turning to mush in her hands. She could have bent and folded and molded him any way she wanted.

"Is this all right?" she whispered in his ear. "Do you want this?"

_Yes. Yes. _He could barely speak past the desire for her choking him. "Yes, if you do."

"Sit back," she said, "Just let me do this now."

He did not have an answer for that... his mind a complete blank that was proving the hypothesis about human males. All he knew was want and sensation as Rose's nails and fingers alternately explored, scratched and kneaded his skin, and her tongue painted trails down his chest that cooled in the air of the cabin as she travelled down his body. He was literally on the edge of his seat, and hoped Rose would not notice the shuddering in his legs as she slowly undid the buckle on his belt and pulled it from around his waist with a soft _clink_ and a _swish. _She dropped it on the carpeted floor on the cabin, and concentrated on the fly of his trousers next. His arousal was straining against the fabric, ultra-sensitive as she slowly unbuttoned and unzipped him and carefully pulled down the waistband of his pants and boxer briefs. She freed him from the fabric.. and the Doctor closed his eyes as she leaned down and lightly touched his cock with her tongue. It definitely felt like all the blood and sensation in this human body had gone _there._

"Human enough," said Rose softly, and he could hear the smile in her voice. And then he groaned from deep within him as she slipped down to the floor and took him into her warm mouth. She couldn't take it all, but what she could, and _was_ doing, was nearly driving him mad as she ran her tongue up and down his length. Occasionally she brought him close to the edge by applying her teeth _oh so lightly_ and applying suction pressure to the head of his cock. "Rose... Rose," he could only call her name weakly as he rested his hands on her shoulders.

"Mmm?" She withdrew from him for a moment. "I'm doing tests right now," she informed him, with a hint of irritation.

A laugh burst out of the Doctor as he opened his eyes and looked lovingly at Rose. "You're wearing too much," he said, cupping her cheek with his hand.

"Is that a problem?" she said. She rose from the floor, and the Doctor felt his heart pounding even harder as she spread her legs and straddled him carefully so that his member stood erect between them.

"It is," said the Doctor, as he lifted her tunic off of her body. She helped him remove it, smiled shyly as he touched the soft skin of her breast, just above where the bra hid her flesh from his sight. More bravely he cupped her curves, slipping his fingers under the delicate fabric of her lingerie, marvelling at her skin softer than silk. She shrugged the straps of her bra off of her shoulders so he could further explore, and gasped as he pinched and rolled her nipples with his fingers. He stopped, then tenderly placed the palm of one hand against her chest. He could feel her heart beating beneath his hand.

"One heart," he said, with wonder. "I'm like you now."

He felt the tempo of her heartbeat increase, and for a moment, he thought he saw her eyes shining with tears before she blinked and bit her lip. Before he could do anything else, she was off of his lap and removing her shoes, slacks and knickers. If he wasn't hard enough before, he was definitely was now, and throbbing with need. As soon as Rose was within reach he pulled her hips to him. Her eyes were no longer the eyes of the girl he once knew—this was a woman who needed him as much as he needed her, a woman whose thighs were now straddling him again, a woman who was now lowering her wet, molten core down onto his cock, enveloping him in tight, silken heat. He heard a sound he didn't recognize, and realized after a moment it was him, groaning at the sensation of being inside her. He closed his eyes, his senses feeling overloaded...felt his head tipping back, his legs turning to water. Every cell in his body was alive, fired up with sensation... he groaned and kept on groaning as Rose took more of him into her, lowering herself until he was inside her to the hilt. She rested her delicious weight on him, and placed one hand over his heart.

"Still with me?"

He moaned in response, opened his eyes and saw her smile.

"I think I like being human," he said, breathing heavily.

"I like it too," she said. She leaned close enough so he could feel her breasts against his bare chest, close enough to wrap her arms around his neck and kiss his temple softly. "And I love you," she whispered.

"And I... _agh_... _oh, Rose..." _He sank his head against her shoulder as his world became nothing but sensation. Her tight sheath hugged his length like a velvet glove, and as she rode him, rode this new body of his, the new nerves in his skin were going off like sparks, overwhelming his mind. It was all he could do to cling on to her as she moved upon him urgently. Beneath his hands, he felt her body tensing, like a spring winding tighter and tighter. Every deep drive of him into her core, she gasped. He could not hold on much longer when she started increasing the tempo. "Rose... _Rose..." _He was incapable of any more coherence than that, didn't know if she heard him either, because the next thing he knew, she was crying out like a small animal. She tightened around him...and his control slipped as his cock drove one last time into that place of bliss. Supernovae were bursting behind his eyes, in his heart and at the core of him... he sobbed as the little vibrations through her body could be felt in his as well, sobbed as hot seed spilled from him, each spurt giving him an additional burst of both pleasure and pain.

He didn't know how humans dealt with this...mental functions were overwhelmed completely during this. It was both terrifying...and liberating. To be freed, even if just a moment, of all thoughts, all past hurts, all memories. He hugged Rose to him tightly. She squirmed a little.

"Need to breathe," she gasped.

"Oh, sorry," he said.

But it was hard not to hug her. He fairly tapped his foot in impatience until she got her breath back and could be hugged without making a complaint.

"Liked that, did you?" asked Rose wryly from inside his embrace.

The Doctor grinned and felt this was the happiest moment since he'd been here.

"I'm so glad Pete took the car," he said.

* * *

**Sign up for story alerts, and review if you like. There are definitely more chapters coming up soon**—I'm releasing the chapters as I write forwards and edit backwards. (You can almost guess the title of the next chapter, can't you? Hee!)


	3. Part Time Lord

**Author's Note: **A real time crunch lately has prevented me from responding me to feedback, but it remains much appreciated! This chapter should have been released much earlier as well, but I had to make sure it flowed into the next chapter I was writing. Sorry about its length—there was an epic struggle over how long and "talky" this chapter is but I think the end of the chapter makes up for it. After this installment, more humour and adventure comes up. Thanks for your patience.

_Still so young to travel so __  
Old enough to know you are__  
Wise enough to carry the scars  
__Without any blame, there's no one to blame  
It's easy to forget what you've learned  
Waiting for the thrill to return  
Feeling your desire burn  
As you're drawn to the flame..._Crowded House, "Distant Sun"

* * *

**Part Time Lord  
**

Scotland was cold. And windy. Rose did not know why she didn't expect that, it being the beginning of summer, and that was one flaw to their evening, though the Inner Hebrides truly was beautiful in the evening light.

"It feels like I need to be standing here with a claymore and in a kilt," said the Doctor.

"I wouldn't mind the kilt," said Rose.

The Doctor flashed her a grin, and that made the whole journey worthwhile. Landing and anchoring the zeppelin had been a bit of a nightmare in this place.

She hugged close to the Doctor for warmth as they sat on a blanket on a cliff overlooking the dramatic coastline of north west Scotland. She hadn't been here before, though she'd always wanted to come, and it seemed a good time to do so. It wasn't, perhaps, the strangest or most impressive landscape the two had seen together, but it was lovely and a good excuse to keep near him.

"I wish you still had your long coat," she said lightly.

He smiled. "Me too. Though we had to let the other me keep _some _things, I suppose."

"Will you miss it?" It was the question she'd been dying to ask him since the TARDIS had left them in this universe.

"The coat? I can get a new one, you know."

"No, the life you had. Travelling time and space. Going anywhere you wanted. Not staying in any place."

He looked at her, and she saw she had his full attention. "Are you worried about that?" he asked, his brown eyes serious.

"Of course I am. That was, you know, your thing."

"I've learned some things, Rose. That life was never much fun, alone. That's why sooner or later I always took on a companion. Even if they couldn't stay."

"All right... but once you had that company... all that travelling... we never stayed anywhere very long."

"Did you want to?"

"Well, not really... there seemed to be so much out there."

"Do you miss that life? Tell me, Rose."

She thought about it, even though she had mulled over it so many times before. "I missed you more than I missed that life," she said in all honesty. "But travelling seemed part of you, part of the TARDIS, and it was fun."

She looked out towards the sea, where the sun hid behind gold and rose-coloured clouds. "Doctor, I walked through so many universes, went to so many worlds, trying to find you. I travelled... very far. Saw many things. But none of it mean anything. They weren't you. They weren't where you were."

His hands reached for hers. They were warmer than hers, an unusual sensation, and he wrapped them around her fingers protectively. She could get used to the warmth.

"You walked universes for me," he said. "No one's done that for me before."

"Yeah?" It was getting hard to see him in the disappearing light.

"What were you going to do when you found me? Why did you go through all that?"

"Well," said Rose. "We were going to save the universe. The universes, I mean."

The sun had disappeared, and only the glow of dusk still hugged the horizon.

"And then? What, after that?"

"And then, I was planning to ask if you wanted me back with you, to travel with."

"I would have said yes."

She had hoped for that. It was why she had tried to wrap all loose ends here in this universe, never establishing any lasting connections, expecting to leave this universe forever, any day. She had tried to make herself expendable here.

"It wouldn't have been about the travelling though," she said, not wanting him to misunderstand. "I just wanted to be with you. I said forever, didn't I?"

He squeezed her hand. "I remember. But it's not a promise you were expected to keep, Rose."

"I meant to," said Rose. "I was going to find a way." _And I may still do that, _ she added silently. She didn't know why, but his lack of faith in her, as she saw it, stung a little. Though she also had to admit, if she hadn't gone back to the other universe and found him, he might not have gotten shot by the Dalek and been forced to almost-regenerate.

"Did I do wrong, coming back?" she asked. The truth could hurt, but she needed to know. "You got hurt. Maybe if I had just... passed Donna the message and left it at that—"

"Don't," said the Doctor.

She stopped. "Don't what?" She could no longer see him in the darkness. Just a silhouette against the faint stars only starting to appear in the sky.

"Don't think that. Don't say that."

She quieted.

He broke the silence a long moment later.

"I've botched this, Rose. Badly. Wait," he said as she started to protest. "Me, time lord. Bad at this. Botched it. I told you this gob wasn't good at saying things that actually need saying. _Rose..." _He tightened his hands around hers, and pulled her to him. She resisted at first, for no reason she could explain, but he didn't give up, and moved closer to envelope her in a crushing hug, burying his face in her hair. She held him and laid her head against his. It helped a little against the cold.

He spoke again, raising his head a little so his lips were beside her ear. "This. Being here, with you. Some days..." She felt a shudder run through his body, but then he continued. "Some days, I just wanted to break the walls down to get you back."

Tears spilled down Rose face before she could deny them. "I didn't know," she said.

"I couldn't tell you. I didn't tell you. And even when I could have...I _really _botched it, royally. You can confirm."

"Yeah," Rose laughed bitterly, "I can."

"I'm glad you came back for me. You were brilliant. And it's...it's my fault that that question was even necessary for you to ask."

He tightened his arms around her. It was making it hard for her to breathe but she didn't care. It was a pleasurable pain, one that she would not have given up for the world. He was here with her, and had given her an answer she needed to hear.

"I don't want to make any more mistakes," said the Doctor.

A small laugh managed to escape her. "Fine time to decide that," she said, "now that you're part human. You're going to _err._ It comes with the package."

"Then I'm just going to hold out as long as possible," he said with conviction.

"You are?"

"Yep."

"How are you going to do that?" she asked, smiling.

"Well... first, I'm going to bundle you up out of this cold and get us back into that airship we left around here..."

That sounded really good. "Then?"

"Then we look for some place to have dinner."

"And then?"

"Then we could look for some place to stay the night, if you'd like that."

"Some place warm," she said.

"Some place warm," he repeated. "Is that a good plan for now?"

"I think so." She didn't know what they would do tomorrow, but tomorrow could take care of itself.

"Good." He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her lips. In the near-darkness, the kiss lingered and seemed to carry an unspoken promise. She wondered.

They got up, picked up the blanket after them, and returned to the zeppelin.

* * *

They found a pub in a small village, not too far away, and anchored the zeppelin in a field near it. The staff at the pub seemed used to drop-in visitors from out of town. Rose and the Doctor also learned that the farmhouse next door had been converted into an inn. At the pub, Rose barely managed to discourage the Doctor from attempting the haggis, but he did try a local scotch whiskey, and stopped when he said it made him feel strange. That was the point, she had assured him. He had shaken his head. "I need my wits about me" he'd replied, then said nothing else. They walked over to the inn after dinner.

"I don't suppose you still have your psychic paper," Rose said as they were alone outside, between the buildings.

"Have we run out of money? Do we need to pass as inspectors?"

"It isn't the money," said Rose. "It's me."

"You?"

"My father's a bit of a celebrity in this universe. It makes things tricky sometimes. Tabloids."

"Oh," he said. "Aurgh," as the realization hit him.

They reached the door to the inn. It was lit on the outside only by a single antique gas lamp fitted with an light bulb.

"Here we go," said Rose as she pushed the door open. They entered a small room that was dimly lit. There was a counter behind which was a small doorway leading to a small room where a television set was playing. Rose _dinged_ the bell on the counter. It wasn't long before a distracted old man emerged to make a carbon impression of Rose's credit card and pass them a key.

"Upstairs, second door on your left. Please check out before 11am unless you're staying another night." He returned quickly to his television program.

"Right, thank you." Rose took the Doctor's hand and led him up the stairs.

"That didn't seem so bad," whispered the Doctor as they ascended the creaky wooden steps. The building seemed over a hundred years old.

"Let's hope," said Rose simply. "I'd give it a day or so."

"We'll have to behave then, I suppose?" the Doctor asked with a grin. "No more drunken parties, and flashing people from inside limousines?"

"How will we live?" said Rose with mock despair. She took a left after the stairs and walked down the hallway, pulling him along. "Here we are." She struggled with the key in the antique lock for a little while before opening the door and turning on the light. It revealed a small room with a peeling laminate double bed and pea-green wallpaper with swirling geometric shapes that must have come from the 60s. There were even macramé hangings on the wall. An antique television set graced a small table made of woven cane and rattan. The former would have been more at home in an antique store; the latter, in a different latitude and decade. "Oh my god," said Rose, before she burst into giggles.

"What?" said the Doctor.

A thought struck Rose that made her laugh even harder at the situation. She flopped onto the bed (the pattern on the bedspread was a garish meeting of pastel flowers and Jackson Pollock), conscious of the Doctor closing the door and then regarding her in bewilderment.

"Rose?"

She tried to stop giggling, failed, tried again. "I think... I was going to say..." she giggled one more time. "I think we've travelled back in time." She waved her hand at the room's décor.

An answering giggle slipped out of the Doctor before he recovered, considerably more quickly than Rose did. "Funny," he said. He sat down on the bed beside her as she tried to bury the last giggle. "I guess it's going to be like this from now on? Visiting old inns and Renaissance fairs and the Epcot Center..."

"Oh god, no," said Rose in horror, clutching at his hands.

The Doctor grinned. He leaned back on the bed till he was level with her, and their faces just inches apart.

"This place warm enough for you, then?" he asked.

She had almost forgotten all about that. Dinner and being indoors had gone a long way in making the Scottish night-time more tolerable. "Yes," she said.

"I'm prepared to do more to keep you warm, if you want."

Rose raised an eyebrow. "Is that a come-on, Doctor?"

"I'll only say if you tell me it's working."

Rose chuckled and touched the Doctor's cheek with her hand. His skin was slightly rough now with five-o'clock shadow—something new to her, and quite possibly part and parcel of his new human-ness. "This might take me a little while to get used to," Rose admitted.

"What?"

"You flirting," said Rose. All the time she'd known him from before, he'd always run from intimacy. These words from his mouth were new and a little strange to her. And earlier that afternoon, things had certainly progressed much faster to a certain stage than she'd dared to expect, although she _had_ been nursing that desire for him for years...she couldn't be expected to behave herself after _all_ that time apart.

"I'm really very old, you know," the Doctor said.

"And yet, in another way, you're, what, a day old?"

"Is this all too strange for you then?" There was a bit of worry in his voice.

"This is you, Doctor," she said. "Strange. You wouldn't be you if you weren't." That was true.

He sat up. Rose had to crane her head a little to keep her eyes on him. His face was sober, all flirting gone. "Is that fine with you?"

Rose frowned and leaned up on her elbow to be closer to him. "It's always been, Doctor."

"I thought about something I could give to you."

That was a bit of a surprise, and seemed to come out of nowhere. He had her full attention now, and she sat up to face him.

"Although," the Doctor said uncertainly, "It's a time lord thing. I don't even know if it's something I can do any more."

"What is it?"

His brown eyes were fixed on hers. "I could show you a memory. A memory of mine, I mean."

"If it's something you want to do," Rose said carefully.

"I do," he said. "Since I don't seem to be very good at saying the important things..."

The Doctor took her hands in his and placed them on his heart. Rose's fingers touched his chest, felt the hardness of his ribs and the thump of the heart beneath them. The Doctor then placed his fingers on her temples. "I don't know if this will work," he said softly. "If it does, then you have to trust me."

"Okay," she said. He seemed a little taken aback by how quickly she said it, but she didn't care. His face took on a look of concentration, and Rose felt a new awareness suddenly pervading her mind, as if a new sense or a new door was opening in it. Her consciousness moved toward it, and she heard his voice in her head even though his lips never moved.

_It's working. Do you trust me?_ he asked again.

"I do," said Rose.

_Then come with me._

Through the open door, she stepped into his mind.

* * *

"_Some days, I just wanted to break the walls down to get you back..."_

He almost wanted to whoop in relief as he realised he could touch her mind with his own. There were definitely advantages to being a time lord, some he suspected he would no longer miss (like not growing old) and some, like this one, that could be useful. He wondered for a short moment, though, if it could be counted as cheating.

_Cheating? _asked Rose, in his head.

_This _is _a time lord trick, _he thought at her. _Not human._

He gave her time to get used to the mental connection between them, watched silently as she distinguished between her own consciousness and his, in this space that occupied no space at all. It gave him a bit of pride that her confusion was minimal.

_This does remind me of the time Cassandra was in my head. Except I guess I'm in your head now._

_Yes, something like that. But not completely the same. You're still connected to your own body. Can you feel it?_

Rose paused before she answered. _Yes._

_Good. _Keeping his fingers on Rose's temples, the Doctor touched his palms to the sides of her face. The physical sensations still being received by her body would help orientate her. _At any time this gets bad for you, you can break this link off and go back._

_Why would I want to? _she asked.

He didn't answer. He reached for a memory.

"_Some days, I just wanted to break the walls down to get you back..."_

He opened another door for her, in his mind. This one to the memory of a moment—the moment the walls between universes had been closed after the Battle of Canary Wharf, the moment of the wonderful/terrible realization that Rose was in the next universe (saved from the Void at the last moment by Pete Tyler), and there was no way to get her back without destroying the both of them. Even after all that time, his consciousness _now_ winced at the memory—the horrifying emptiness and loss of realising she was gone. It felt like the Void had entered his hearts.

_I felt the same way, _Rose said.

_Let me show you another time. _He opened another door. This one was to _his _memory of one of the worst days in her life, the first goodbye at Bad Wolf Bay. Rose recoiled.

_I do not wish to visit this again, _she said.

He understood. _It was one of the worst days of my life too._

They did not stay. The Doctor opened yet another door.

"_Why don't you ask her yourself?" said Donna, as they stood outside the TARDIS on a deserted street on the stolen earth._

This time Rose was silent as she watched herself and the memory from the Doctor's eyes, the moment of their last reunion. The disbelief and flaring of hope, relief and love in the Doctor's hearts. All the world had gone away except for her, the sight of her, glowing like the sun, the only source of light on a planet whose skies had gone dark. The exhilaration of being in the same universe with her again, closing the distance between them, barely aware he was running, until she had slowed down and her eyes had shifted to the Dalek behind him.

_That was one of my happiest moments,_ he shared with her, _until the last bit where I got shot, of course. I never thought I'd see you again. I don't regret that, any of it. _

He caught his breath after another thought struck him like a bolt from the blue. With it, a wave of realisation and self-hatred hit the Doctor. He drew his hands back, breaking physical and mental contact with Rose. _He'd been such a fool. The walls..._

"I separated us," he said, the words falling from numb lips.

What was it some sage from Earth had said? An old wise man from India had put into words what several philosophers from several worlds had long believed:_ Our thoughts create reality. _The implications of that for the Doctor, of all people, were enormous. And he couldn't bear it if Rose knew just how _stupid_ he was, and how long it'd taken for him to realise...

"What?" said Rose.

"No...n-nothing," he said.

"What?" Rose asked again.

The walls that had kept them apart. _He'd_ set them up. He'd put them there. Even the _Daleks_ had seen, when he was in the body with the blue eyes and the dumb ears, the body in which he'd first met Rose—even the Daleks on the GameStation had seen that he'd loved her then. But he'd been too damn busy denying it, running away, or sending her away, putting up walls, mental walls, walls of space, walls of time, walls between universes. They had begun in his mind, the same mind the TARDIS had always been linked to, and the TARDIS re-created the universe around them whenever they travelled. The Doctor and the TARDIS had always been linked, always... even as he'd loved Rose more and more, he'd run farther and further away, going so far as to almost trap himself with another woman in 18th Century France. He shouldn't have been surprised that after that, the TARDIS had dumped them in the other universe, and planted the seeds for trapping Rose there later, keeping them apart. The walls between them had been placed first by his mind. Then the universes and the TARDIS had taken _his_ cue.

"Doctor? Doctor," Rose was holding his shoulders, peering at his face with concern.

"I'm so sorry," he told her.

"What?" she said, yet again.

"Everything I've done," he said. "Everything that's happened. It was me." Davros had been right. He'd destroyed so much... created weapons and walls, managed to hurt even those he had not wanted to hurt. And for the first time, he was glad he no longer had the TARDIS. And who knew what the other him was now wrecking in the other universe _with _it...

"I don't understand," said Rose.

He looked at her with a plea in his eyes. "I don't want you to," he said.

But this was no longer the girl he knew. This Rose was older, stronger, even more wilful now than before. _She has so much strength_, he found himself thinking as she took his face in her hands and gazed into his eyes. He couldn't tear himself away from the look in hers—there was love, acceptance, and command in there all at once. Universes were contained within. Why should he have been surprised? She'd taken the whole Vortex in there, once, and survived.

"Do you trust me?" she asked him, in the same words and tone of voice he'd used just a short while ago. Donna Noble had told him, after her brush with the parallel world, that Rose had seemed a lot like him. He hadn't understood at the time, but was beginning to, now.

"I do," he said.

"Then tell me. Or show me. It will be fine."

"No. Okay," he said helplessly.

"You said something about the walls?"

"I made them," he whispered. When she looked at him in incomprehension, he touched her temple and re-established the mind-link. He showed her his realisation, his previous connection with the TARDIS, and how too often the TARDIS had brought them to places unexpected, so many of them trying to tear them apart. His fault, all his. _Mea culpa. I'm so sorry. _

There was no response from her.

"I caused it, Rose," he said, worried about her silence. "Our time apart. I made that happen. And so many other things."

"No," she said. _No. You can't have caused all of it._

_But I did._

One side of Rose's mouth picked up in a smile. "Are you telling me the universe revolves around you?"

"It just may, you know."

_Doctor. _She was managing to keep up with him, this conversation both inside and external. To the Doctor's disbelief, forgiveness flowed from her mind to his. She kissed his lips, then looked at him calmly. "If the universe, if all the universes do revolve around you, then us finding each other again was all your doing as well," she said. "And I can't let you take _all_ the credit." There was mock irritation in her voice that found its edge in the truth of her words.

The Doctor gazed at her, dumbfounded. His hubris was appropriately chastised by her logic.

"We're here now," she continued. "That's all that matters. That's all. I travelled so far to find you." _And I just don't want to be apart again, not so long as you still want me with you. _She lowered her hands from his face as he continued to look at her, astonished.

"Are we all right?" she asked. "You're quiet."

"I'm the lucky one..." He still had his fingers on her temple. Gently, lightly, he ran his index finger down her cheek. She caught his hand in hers as he reached her chin.

"You said the words," she said slowly. "The other you... he didn't."

He looked into her eyes. The sadness within took his breath away. He did not know if he could ever hope to heal that hurt. Yet it amazed him how calm she was, how she carried that burden without breaking.

"He made his choice. _You_ made your choice," she continued, stating the facts. "And then I made mine."

Yes, she could still astonish him. He didn't need the TARDIS. All he needed, and wanted, was her.

"Words from the wise," he whispered.

"It comes from growing older, I think," said Rose. "And that's why I have a lot of hope for us." She was smiling at him.

"Rose." Trembling, he cradled her face and touched his lips to hers. _Rose, _he called her name. His one, single heart felt so full. He didn't need a second. _Stay here with me, _he asked her.

_I'm here._ Her mouth was exploring his even as their minds touched again, sealed by their physical contact. It was just as well. Her tongue was occupied gently stroking and playing against his. Slowly he moved his hands down her body to pull her body against him. Through the mind link, he let her feel his desire, slowly building under the surface, waiting for her assent before he would act upon it. He felt her complete acquiescence that came without hesitation.

_I trust you, _she said.

Fire flared inside him. He had no idea what he'd done to earn that trust from her—there had been some adventures they'd had where they barely survived. He'd broken her heart, but her love never waned—he could feel it even now, and it amazed him. He kissed her fiercely, wanting no barriers, no walls between them. The feeling scared him, but fazed her not at all. Reading his mind, her fingers were already busy freeing them from their clothing. Cold air met his skin as she removed his jacket, tie and shirt. He helped her remove her jacket, and was impatient even as they had to stop kissing for a short while so she could lift her stretchy cotton tunic over her head and remove her bra. Her hair fell around her. He buried his hands in the golden strands as he pulled her to him hungrily. _Rose. _He captured her mouth with his again even though he was breathless. _Rose. _

_My Doctor, _she whispered. There was no mistaking the two words she just said, _my _Doctor_, _and he thought his heart would burst. Growling, he buried his face in her hair, against her neck. He bit his lip against the tears that threatened to come. Through the mind link, she saw what those words meant to him. As she prepared to say them again, he bit her, firmly but not painfully, on the shoulder. _Use those words carefully, Rose... if you say them again right now, I don't know what I'll do. _Through the mind link, she saw a man she knew and yet didn't know struggling with desperation, relief and passion all at the same time. She saw a man afraid of losing all control, and became silent for the moment.

Lifting his head from her shoulder, the Doctor gazed at her wordlessly. With his forehead pressed to hers, he lowered her down against the pillows on the bed. He ran his hand down her body to her waist, to where her slacks covered her belly just under her navel. The pants unhooked and unzipped easily (thankfully), and with her help, he soon had them and her knickers stripped away from her smooth legs, and she kicked her shoes away obligingly as well. His shoes, pants and briefs joined her clothing on the floor before too long. Her body glowed like pale gold in the room's dim light. Lying down beside her, he ached to possess her, but kissed her slowly, starting from the top of her head, next planting a kiss on her lips, then her collar bone, and her breasts. As he reached her hips, he could not resist licking and nibbling her hip bone. Her hands were around his neck and shoulders; they tightened in his hair as he slipped lower down her body. He ran one hand lightly down her thigh (her skin like silk) before reversing its movement. Gently he coaxed her legs apart. The scent of her sex and her arousal, and the wetness between her legs that greeted his fingers only made him more hard. But he was still determined to explore.

He heard her draw a deep, shaky breath as he moved his fingers toward her clit. It was slippery with her arousal, and as he brushed his thumb against it, a jolt of pleasure ran through them both. Ah, the mind link. _Things may get interesting, _he thought at her. And then he was amused as he got the impression that it was Rose now who could not form coherent thought. _How __interesting? _came her belated reply. In answer, he licked at her centre and was rewarded with a small moan. Using both her physical and mental responses as a guide, he licked and sucked at her, tasting sweetness and muskiness. At her wordless coaxing he slipped two fingers into her as well. Her hot flesh gripped his fingers, and he noted that some walls inside her seemed more sensitive. Concentrating on those with his fingers pressed against them, he worked his tongue more furiously over her clit. It wasn't long before a cry escaped her at the same time her whole body seemed to tighten around his fingers. This time a wave of pleasure crashed over them, and stole the Doctor's breath away. Recovering, then probing through the mind link, he would have been alarmed to find Rose's consciousness missing, except she was right here with him, panting, and he got the funny mental and physical impression that her body was currently a puddle of happiness.

Lifting himself from between her legs, he moved to lie beside her on the bed again, his head on the pillow beside her. Carefully, he cradled her in his arms, his erection pressing gently against her hip as he gave her time to recover. Through their mental connection, he could tell when she could form thoughts again. Well, more or less. It wasn't long before Rose was rolling onto her side to face him and plant wet, grateful kisses on his neck. "You..." she mumbled against his skin. "What about you?" She ran her hands over him, then wrapped around his cock and stroked him. The Doctor closed his eyes at the sensation. He opened them again when he felt Rose wrapping one leg around him and rubbing the the tip of him against her _there._

"You... Inside me. Now," she breathed. _Doctor. _My_ Doctor. _

The Doctor growled as he grabbed Rose and pinned her back against the bed with his body. She moved with him, not fighting at all as he positioned himself at her entrance. Her legs lifted to wrap around him—he did not know if she was reading his mind or if they were already in synch. The push to be inside her was exquisite—she was wet, but tight after her climax, and accepted his entry slowly but surely. Low moans escaped both their throats as they were joined. The Doctor rested his elbows at the side of her head and panted against her ear. "I told you to use those words carefully," he said.

_Oh I did. And I am._

He groaned and started moving inside her. Her body was warm and giving and deliciously clingy around his. Her hands were on his waist, pulling him to her whenever he pushed. He gritted his teeth against the pleasure, disbelief even now at how her body fit his like a glove, and every move he made had an answering move from her to take him deeper. Every stroke of his sent a shiver through them both. She turned her lips to his ear... but he was no longer aware if the words she said were out loud or through their connection, _my love, my Doctor... _and when he answered the words that spilled from him were in her language and in Gallifreyan. Through the mind link, she understood them all. His muscles seemed no longer under his control; every sense of his was consumed with sensation and his climb toward release. Harder and faster he pushed inside her, his limbs and hips moving of their own volition. She moaned and gasped, but all he could feel through their mind link was bliss heightened by the pain of their separation before. _Never again_, he promised her, he wanted to be joined to her like this forever, and she clung to him just as desperately as their bodies moved together, as inexorably and powerfully as the tide. The pleasure built inside of him until he knew he could no longer hold back his release. And as he approached the edge, he pulled her mind into his—he came, and shared with her the pain/pleasure of dissolving into nothingness and ecstasy, senses too full to analyse it all, completely overwhelmed until they were dissolved and empty and he could no longer tell where he ended and she began.

Before they fell asleep, their bodies burdened with pleasant tiredness, he whispered goodnight to her as he felt her mind slipping into dreams of faraway worlds. She whispered back a name she'd picked up from his mind while they were joined, startling an incredulous laugh from him before he fell into dream as well.

_Good night, 'Mr Pencil'._

It was her mother's new nickname for him from that morning.


	4. Parts Unknown

**Author's Note:** Sorry for the long delay—_really_ terrible real-life work schedule lately. You probably shouldn't be surprised either that the story is starting to deal with _Rose's_ work (now with the Doctor joining in of course). I'm taking it a little slowly, since Alt!Universe leaves a lot of world-building and details up to the writer (even the fanfic writer). And if you look out for it, there's a reference to the Curse of Fatal Death in here. Enjoy.

* * *

**Parts Unknown**

Rose awoke with a groan as a drumming and beeping noise sounded next to her head. Curled around her, the Doctor stirred and groaned as well, and Rose rustled his hair apologetically with one hand as the other reached for her phone, vibrating and sounding on the bedside table. The caller ID told her it was her father.

"Hello?" she answered, perfectly aware that she sounded full of sleep and she wasn't afraid of letting this early caller know it. It was barely past six in the morning, and the light outside the window was only the half-light of dawn.

"Sorry to wake you," said Pete. "Your mother told me that you and the Doctor had taken a jaunt up to Scotland."

"Yep," said Rose before a yawn possessed her jaw. "Kinda got here late yesterday evening."

"I may have an assignment for you and the Doctor. If you want to do it."

Rose groaned. It was just way too early in the day for this. The Doctor was blinking and raising himself on his elbows, watching and listening. "What is it?" asked Rose.

"Rift activity was recorded last night in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It's a somewhat unusual spot for it and could use some investigation. I wouldn't have asked except you're actually the closest one to the place right now. Just across the water from your location in Scotland..."

"You're kidding," moaned Rose, almost sobbing in despair.

"You're not a morning person." Pete noted with some amusement.

"Bad things happen when I'm up before the sun is," said Rose grumpily. "Is there anything else to note besides or about the rift activity? How long did it last?"

"Not very long. Don't think much could have come through, if anything at all. I've already contacted some authorities in the area to cordon off the place. Keep the tourists and UFO hunters away."

"Northern Ireland."

"The Giant's Causeway, actually. It's supposed to be nice. Let me know if it's worth taking your mother to."

"I haven't agreed yet!" Rose protested.

There was the sound of Peter chuckling. Rose heaved a sigh as she looked at the Doctor. "How much of that did you catch?" she asked him.

"Rift activity? Giant's Causeway. And you being the closest Torchwood agent in the area. All that?"

"Up for it?"

The Doctor had a wide smile. "Is Torchwood going to put me on the roll? I don't know if they can afford me."

Rose giggled as she got back on the phone. "The Doctor said he doesn't know if you can afford him," she passed along.

Pete grunted. "We'll base it on his performance, if he wants."

"Ooh,"said the Doctor, overhearing that. "A _challenge."_

Rose rolled her eyes. "I guess we're on it," she said resignedly.

"I've forwarded the coordinates to the zeppelin's computer already. Keep me posted and take care, Rose. Contact if you need help. I'll see you soon."

The call ended. Rose put the cell phone back on the bedside table and closed her eyes, wanting to go back to sleep. A naked Doctor crawled up her body. Even that could not tempt her.

"You go," she moaned. "You investigate. I'm stayin' here."

"You're _really_ not a morning person," said the Doctor.

She ignored him, rolled over and snuggled under the covers. She actually managed to doze off, because a little later she was woken up again, this time by the bed bouncing because the Doctor had flopped on it beside her, clean, shaved, and fully dressed, from the looks of it.

"'Good morning, Starshine,'" he said brightly.

"You got dressed already," she noted in distress.

"'The world says hello,'" continued the Doctor.

"You got dressed already."

"Your powers of observation work quite well."

"I wanted to stay in bed," Rose could not help grumbling even as she sat up, wrapping the covers around herself. She gazed towards the bathroom door with a glum look on her face.

"I tested the hot water for you," said the Doctor, still chirpy. "It works fine."

She shot him what she hoped was a scary look as she got out of bed, a sheet wrapped around her, and stumbled to the bathroom, retrieving her clothes along the way. Fifteen minutes later, she emerged, teeth brushed, showered, and more-or-less dressed. She was not surprised to see the Doctor had laid her jacket out on the bed (already made) and had even re-packed her overnight bag for her while she'd been in the shower. If it hadn't been seven in the morning, she might have found it all amusing.

She picked up her jacket and overnight bag and looked at the Doctor. He was already hovering near the door to their room.

"I've got a good feeling about today," he said.

* * *

The journey in the zeppelin to the Giant's Causeway was a quiet one. The Doctor let Rose doze against him as he went through the air ship's computer, trying to understand its controls and navigation system and connection to the wider networks, one of which was Torchwood's. He didn't have access to their classified network just yet, and decided to just let time take care of that. He didn't know how he would fit into this universe just yet, other than knowing that it would be by Rose's side. And right now she was a comfortable weight draped against the left side of him, snatching a few more winks while they made their way to Ireland over the sea. Once in a while, he touched his lips gently to her hair. If he concentrated and reached out with his mind, he could touch hers and catch glimpses of her dreams. He could not wish for a more perfect, quiet moment.

He looked out of the windows of the zeppelin, and sat up straight as he thought he spotted land coming up over the horizon. He checked their progress on the computer and confirmed it. A little reluctantly and gently he wiggled the shoulder that Rose was leaning against. A small sound of complaint escaped her and made him smile before she opened her eyes and sat up. "I'm awake," she announced, rubbing her eyes.

"Land ahoy, Captain Rose," said the Doctor.

"Arrrgh!" she said. "Thank ye, skipper." She checked the window then the screen, exactly as he'd done seconds before, then patted his leg as she got up from the seat next to him. She walked over to a side panel that hid some storage space. In it, she rummaged for a minute before pulling out a small instrument. "Ah!" she said in relief. "Better than nothing."

"What's that?" asked the Doctor.

"Don't laugh," said Rose. "My father's zep isn't exactly fitted out for Torchwood work—it's not an official vehicle. If we had come from the Torchwood offices we could have brought some intruments to help us find whatever we're looking for today. Who knows how big or small it'll be or how obvious. But it usually has some energy signatures consistent with things that have come through the rift... that's how we would find it. But today all I've got is this." She put the instrument in his hands. An EMF detector. He looked it over.

"This thing is good for maybe finding studs in walls."

"Any jiggery pokery you can do?"

The Doctor grinned at her. "You should know."

It took Rose a second before she got his meaning and slapped his arm.

"Oh, you meant this," said the Doctor, waving the device. "I'm missing my screwdriver." It would have been useful to still have the sonic screwdriver. He could still work without it, but not as effectively.

"I may have something." Rose went back to the storage cabinet. "Not sonic though, I'm afraid." She passed him a tool kit.

"A portable phone you're not using, by any chance?"

She passed him that too.

The Doctor put his new glasses on. He had the energy field detection device and the phone dismantled within seconds, and a new chimera assembled within minutes—a detector with an improved accuracy that it hadn't had before. Not his best work, he considered, looking at how inelegantly it was held together, but it would have to do. He looked up to see Rose gazing out the window as the Giant's Causeway grew closer and clearer to their sight. In the morning light, the unusual natural basalt structures of the Causeway glowed gold and orange.

"Almost looks like a different world," murmured Rose. Her fingers danced over the zeppelin's console as she disengaged the autopilot and took over the controls. It was entrancing watching her. "What have you got?" she asked, without looking away from her flying.

"I've got a reading on it. It's ahead, a little to our left."

"Okay," said Rose, and started steering the ship by his instructions. Below them, the Causeway became a lovely tesseract of geometric shapes, a crazy quilt of geometric, towering stones thrown up by Mother Nature to intrigue sight-seekers and story-tellers who would invent myths about their creation. But nothing looked unusual.

"We're right above it now," said the Doctor, and Rose cut power to some of the zeppelin's engines. The sound of the engines quieted to a hum. They drifted a little from momentum as Rose let the ship descend gently. When they were at a comfortable height, she let the Doctor take the controls so she could step out the ship first and secure an anchor from the zeppelin to the ground below them. He heard her open the door and walk a few steps down the ship's extended gangplank.

And then a loud and surprised yelp, then a series of choked cries, then nothing.

"Rose? Rose?" The Doctor shouted.

Her voice emerged, softly, from somewhere lower and farther away from where she should have been.

"I fell," she called, with an audible wince in her voice. "I think there's a illusion being projected here or something. I thought I was stepping onto solid rock. Be careful with the zep!"

"_You_ be careful!" he yelled back at her. Damn. _Damn. _The Doctor fumbled with the ship's manual controls, a part of his brain wondering why they were different from the TARDIS's. Hoping that his performance-based, yet-to-be-earned income from Torchwood was going to cover the damage on Pete's zeppelin, he used the extended gangway to test for solid ground as he steered the ship forward and downwards until a bone-rattling scraping sound could be heard.

"I _told_ you to be careful with the zep!" Rose's voice called from farther away.

"Are you _kidding_ me?" muttered the Doctor. Rose was more concerned about the ship than herself? But her still being able to shout was a good sign. He killed the zeppelin's engines and rushed to the door, jamming his new detection device into a jacket pocket. The gangway looked a little banged up pushed up and wedged in the corners of some rocks, but still serviceable. At least the reality of those rocks was assured. The Doctor climbed onto the confirmed rocks, reached for the ship's anchoring gear and activated them.

"Rose?" he shouted. "Where are you? Keep talking to me." Around him, the rocks of the Giant's Causeway looked like, well, unsharpened pencils—the kind that came six- or eight-sided, all of different lengths, bundled together and standing on their ends. They were the size of pillars. (The Doctor had to admit that they made a more interesting landscape over the usual gravel quarry...)

"Doctor, I'm here. In a hole. I think..." Rose groaned. "I must have tumbled, like, fifteen feet."

Where was that stupid umbrella he used to have? It was a few regenerations ago. It'd looked dumb as heck, but he could use a poking stick around now.

"I'm coming. Are you hurt?" He climbed carefully over the rocks toward her voice, always using his hands to test them. He cursed his slow progress.

"No blood that I can see, but I can't quite stand yet..."

_There._ He found a rock that was not a rock. His hand passed through it. With the same hand, he searched for the ground beneath the illusion, and was relieved it was not a steep drop. He lowered himself into the space, and continued feeling his way down.

"I see you now," said Rose, and her voice was close. The Doctor kept descending the rocks, till at some point he was finally _below_ the projected illusion and could see they were in a small pit about twenty feet wide, fifteen feet deep. The floor of the pit was greatly uneven. Entry in and out of it was possible by using some of the rocks as stepping stones. Rose was sitting up against a rock, but one cheekbone was bloody and her hair was wild. She was smiling in love and relief as he rushed to her. "Hi," she said. He winced as he tried to assess the damage.

"I think I'm mostly OK," said Rose in response to the look on his face. "Still kind of stunned, though."

"Adrenaline can do that... and mask a serious injury at the same time." He looked around quickly. They appeared to be along in the pit but he really could not be completely certain. He took the energy-field detection device out of his pocket and put it in Rose's hands. "Hold this, and watch the readings for me. Tell me immediately if the numbers change."

"Why?" she asked. "What are you doing?"

"Being a Doctor." He laid a hand on her temple. "I'm going to look inside you, Rose. Time-lord-doctor mind trick, OK? I'll do this quickly."

"Okay."

He closed his eyes and concentrated on slipping his awareness into her body. Assessing their bodies' workings at any time was something time lords had always been able to do. He'd never used this ability on someone else before, but a speedy diagnosis now was necessary. A masking/projection field here indicated something or someone that did not want to be found, and they might not have the luxury of time to hang around to find out how hostile it might be.

"Aurngh," groaned the Doctor as the sensations in Rose's body hit him like they were his. This was decidedly less fun than last night.

"Doctor," said Rose.

He could not answer as he concentrated on using his awareness like a precision tool inside Rose's body. His attention went to her sources of pain. The bleeding cheekbone was just a shallow wound, thankfully. She'd also gotten a nasty bump at the back of her head. She had landed on one wrist the wrong way, but that was minor, and it would be sore and tender for a while. There were parts of her that had taken a bad bruising... many. Skin on her hands that had been scratched. They would all be sore and tender for a while, but all that would heal. Nothing serious. She must have tumbled down the steps instead of falling down a steep drop.

"Doctor," said Rose again.

He withdrew from her, re-oriented his mind in his own body and opened his eyes. "Yes, Rose?"

"I think I found the thing we came to find." She indicated something behind him. He turned around, following her gaze to a dark and unusually dusty corner of the pit. He let his eyes adjust.

"Hello," said the Doctor.

* * *

Something about their situation reminded Rose about being back on the TARDIS. This was, decidedly, one of her less favourite things about travelling on the TARDIS, the bits where things were quiet and the Doctor was lavishing all his attention on the TARDIS's innards. The words "Should you two get a room?" came unbidden to her mind again as she watched the Doctor (glasses on) fiddle with the new alien artifact. She was at least grateful that he'd found a way to switch off the illusion-projecting field before bringing it on board.

It looked like metal bangle. Or a very large armband. Deceptively simple in form, just smooth silver metal, without decoration, and with an edge that was about a finger thick. As alien artifacts went, it was the most boring thing Rose had ever seen at this job, but what it was capable of was intriguing. The Doctor said it responded to psi-effects, which was Rose had seen it lit up back at the Giant's Causeway when he'd done his time-lord diagnosis. Rose had watched it glow along its edges when his mind had entered her body. Its shine had been weaker then, half-buried as it was under dust. She was watching it glow again now in the Doctor's hands, as he concentrated on trying to control it. Once in a while, random fireworks and butterflies appeared around the Doctor only to wink out of sight in a few seconds.

"How is it going?" she asked from her seat at the air ship's controls.

"Oh, it is beautiful," said the Doctor, not quite answering her question. But he did look at her momentarily with a smile. "This. Lovely illusion-projector. And no buttons! Every command to it has to be transmitted by the mind. And it's very sensitive."

"It doesn't respond to me," Rose pointed out. "Put me through a good scraping, it did." She still felt like she'd been thrown under a bus.

"Welll... you're not me. Not part-time-lord, with mind tricks, and some telepathic ability," he said. "Brilliant, on top of all that," he continued, all humility.

"Yeah? Well what am I thinking, right now?"

"You're all the way over there, Rose." The Doctor was sitting at the banquettes. "And most humans don't really have the physical make-up for projecting thoughts over distance..."

"But you just said: You got mind tricks. And you're brilliant. Read my mind. Do a Derren Brown."

There was a silent moment as the Doctor frowned at her over the upper rim of his glasses. "Something naughty?" guessed the Doctor.

"What? Nothing of the sort. Look at the state I'm in!"

"No?" The Doctor had the decency to look sheepish.

"And I don't think you were really trying. Do it again." Rose stared at the alien artifact pointedly.

The Doctor raised his eyebrows before he followed Rose's gaze to the new device. Then he looked at her again, keeping his gaze on her for several moments. As he did so, the device glowed and a smile dawned on the Doctor's face. "You're jealous of the artifact?"

"Very good," said Rose. "And yeah, a little." She resigned herself to the fact that she would always take a back seat to the shiny bits and wires. "By the way, that glowed again, it did," Rose pointed out.

"Clever little thing," said the Doctor, his attention already back on the device. "So, it projects images and let me look in on thoughts over distance..."

"And you seem to be the only one who can get it to work for you," pointed out Rose. "I don't know how I feel about that. Though I suppose without you, Torchwood would probably have just thought this thing was some fancy alien jewellery."

He gave her a sidelong grin. "I'm brilliant, aren't I? And look—" As Rose watched, the object faded away from sight in the Doctor's hands. A few seconds later, it appeared again. "I made it do that," said the Doctor proudly.

"Uh _huh_," said Rose thoughtfully. "I know we checked around the Causeway, but let's just hope that's the only thing that came through the rift. I'm not sure I'd want to face the thing that made _that._"

"Well, I'm here now." The Doctor gave her a reassuring smile. "Joining the ranks of the Defenders of the Earth. What will be my job title at Torchwood, you think?"

Rose grinned. "'Rose's Personal Assistant'. Or my coffee boy."

"Oi."

"'Oi' yourself," said Rose. "How many times did you make me disguise as waiting staff when we were together before?"

The Doctor put on his face what could only be called a pout. Rose rolled her eyes dramatically and sighed.

"There's already a file on you on Torchwood. 'The Doctor' works well enough, I think," said Rose. "And anyone who's looked at my profile probably will know who you are." Although, that information _was _about the _other _Doctor, Rose thought. Being the author of the file on him, she hadn't considered yet how she was going to handle explaining _this_ Doctor even to Torchwood. She turned toward the zeppelin's computer, already thinking of pulling up the information from the Torchwood network. But she paused.

"Yeah?" came the Doctor's voice behind her.

"And there's a big red note on there never to go up against you," said Rose from memory. "And for me to be notified immediately if and when you or the TARDIS are ever spotted..." Her voice trailed off. And then she hoped the Doctor did not notice. She abandoned that train of thought, then tried to concentrate on checking the airship's progress back to London.

There was a moment of silence before the Doctor spoke from behind her. "The other me... he's not coming back."

"I know," said Rose, keeping her voice flat. She had no idea if he'd guessed her thoughts on his own or with help from the new device. She didn't look at him, and not much else was said on the remainder of their journey to Torchwood One.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Next chapter... Rose's Torchwood.


	5. Part V: Partiality

**Author's Note: **This is the chapter in which you get to meet Brendan (the stuttering chap from Chapter 1) and where Pete is roped into the story. (You know, the pacing I've got for this story may truly turn this into an epic because I'm not halfway seeding all the elements for the adventure I'm planning for all of them—yikes. Stay with me, I hope.)

* * *

**Partiality**

Rose had been hoping for a quick and quiet visit to the Torchwood headquarters when they arrived, but of course, it was not to be. There were light "hey"s whenever they met Rose's associates, then a hush whenever the Doctor was introduced—and she had no idea if it was a shocked or awed silence that people were displaying.

"A bit of a tongue-tied bunch, this lot," commented the Doctor as they left the Field Research Department behind and headed toward the Vault where alien tech was stored and studied.

"Your reputation must precede you," said Rose with a small smile. "I _did_ say."

"Must be that, or you're a very scary boss."

"Just enough to get my coffee done right," said Rose wryly. "You're going to have to learn that too, you know." They approached a pair of heavy double doors, guarded by a security access panel on the side. Rose pressed her palm to it, and the doors hissed as they opened.

The Doctor had a strange sense of déjà vu as he surveyed the room before them. At the Battle of Canary Wharf, the TARDIS had been transported to a room not too different from this one. He moved slowly into the room, drinking all of it in—noted how it was filled with alien objects both familiar and new. But no TARDIS. Rose watched him as he put his glasses on and started running his hands over the nearest intriguing object.

"M-Miss T-Tyler!"

Rose put a smile on her face before turning to the voice behind her. "Brendan." Wild blonde hair had popped up behind some waist-high shelves laden with energy-storage devices. Beneath the blonde hair, wire-frame glasses on a perpetually befuddled-looking face greeted her gaze.

"Using your free time here in the Vault again, are you?" asked Rose. The young man (her own age, actually) wasn't part of tech research, but not for lack of trying. The technician's duties lay in Communications and Operations.

"Welcome back! Your f-father did s-say you might be on the way in with s-something new." Brendan stood up excitedly and emerged from behind the shelves. "Oh—y-you g-got hurt!"

"It's just a scratch here and there." Rose waved it away, embarrassed. "Not the worst expedition I'd ever been on."

"Y-you're OK?"

"I'm fine."

"D-did you find—oh, wh-who's...that?"

Rose almost felt pity for the chap as the Doctor whirled around at the question and fixed him with a winning grin.

"Hi. _Brendan_, is it? I'm the Doctor. Nice to meet you." The time lord grabbed the young technician's lax hand and pumped it up and down.

"T-t-t-t-the D-d-d..."

Rose glared at the Doctor.

"That's me," said the Doctor, releasing Brendan's hand. "_The _Doctor. Now here in this universe as well. What a lucky universe! It's got Rose Tyler in it, and now me. Funny things, multiple universes. Thanks for the other day, by the way." The Doctor was talking a mile a minute. It was obvious Brendan could barely keep up.

"T-the other d-d-d..."

"Oh yeah. You know. The really really quick transport. The other day. Three people. Jackie, Rose, and _plus-one_. Heard you on the phone. Teleported us from Dalig Ulv Stranden to the Tyler Estate. The other day. Norway to England in a hurry, eh? Your work. Brilliant."

Rose could not decide whether to gape or glare at the time lord, who remained oblivious of her.

"I... Y-you... T-the..." The hapless technician could hardly form words. He turned his lost gaze upon Rose, who was trying to fight the guilty feeling that she'd somehow betrayed his fellow to his exact opposite and worst nightmare in oratory skills. It would never be a fair fight. She took a deep breath and put on a reassuring smile.

"I may have to explain later, Brendan. It's a long story and I—"

"Oh, but it's a brilliant story and about how Rose here crossed universes and how we saved—"

"I've yet to go through a debriefing on it and it's hard to talk about it really because it might not have happened any more now... you know how it is."

Brendan looked more lost and outclassed than Rose had ever seen him in her life. She looked toward the Doctor. He'd shut up and returned his attention to the contents of the Vault.

"Doctor," she said softly. "That new device? I've got to get it catalogued."

The Doctor didn't look up as he removed it from his pocket and handed it to her. She took it and gave Brendan an embarrassed smile. "Work," she said to him, gesturing at the device, before she walked towards the vault's scanning equipment.

Behind her, the Doctor and Brendan exchanged measuring glances.

* * *

A knock on the door to the room with the scanners made Rose look up from the computer screens. "Back to work so fast?" asked Pete Tyler.

Rose brightened as the man she called her father walked into the glass-walled room that was part of the Vault. Momentarily, she could forget the new alien artifact and the bizarre behaviour from the Doctor just now. "Dad!" she said. "And then: "And it was _you_ who shortened my holiday."

"True enough," Pete conceded. "And oh dear... I'm going to hear it from your mum again..." He raised his hand to almost-touch the new scratch she had on her cheek.

"And you would probably deserve it too," grinned Rose as Pete took the chair beside her.

"Just saw the Doctor and Brendan out there. Poor Brendan." Pete looked at the screens. "That it?"

"Yeah."

"The Doctor figure it all out? And nothing else came through the rift?"

"Not that we saw. And as for what this is... well, it's a _something_. I can't use it, but the Doctor can. No buttons, see?" Rose gestured at the image on the screen of the new device that the 3D scanners had captured. "But it can throw projections and read people's thoughts... or he can make it do that anyway. It responds to mental commands."

"And you can't use it? Could it be just you?"

"Well, someone else can have a go at it. I just don't seem to have the capacity for it. The Doctor figured it was probably the same for all humans. Might be right. This was _probably _not meant for our use."

Pete looked thoughtful. "Right," he said. He smiled sidelong at Rose. "Anyway, welcome back. I owe you one." He had had his arm draped casually around the back of her chair, and he moved to give her a small hug around the shoulders. Rose hugged him back; he was, without a doubt, her favourite thing about being in this different universe. "I know I asked you when you contacted me from the airship after picking this up, but how did it all go? Really?"

Rose grinned. "Are you fishing for feedback on the new hire?"

"Maybe."

"'Quick on his feet, and shows excellent problem solving and analytical skills'," mused Rose. "'Displays a real interest and talent for alien technology.'" She glanced at the Vault through the glass walls around them. The Doctor was not too far away, hovering over some equipment. He looked like a child in a candy shop. She cocked her head as she watched him. He noticed her looking at him, and gave a wave. She waved back. "But it's going to be hard to fit him in any one place, I think," Rose continued. "Like a force of nature. You could say 'informal and unpredictable when confronted with authority'."

"Sounds like someone else I know," said Pete. "Well, a few people, actually." He smiled wryly. "So, Rose and the Doctor. It's not like I can make him work with another person here, can I? You two were a pair when I first met you, and now it's...it's back to that." Pete followed Rose's gaze. "I think I'm pretty sure though, that you'll keep each other safe. Barring a few scratches and scrapes here and there."

Rose smiled, and her father returned it. He rose from the chair and planted a gentle kiss on her forehead. "Don't work too hard. We'll be OK if you want to start using your days off—after you finish your report, of course."

"_Dad_," whined Rose. But she was still smiling.

"And please be gentle with Brendan. I don't envy the poor bloke."

"I'm _always_ gentle with Brendan."

"I know. You can't help being a heart-breaker. See you at dinner tonight then? Unless you have other plans."

Pete was already half out the door. Rose watched as he exchanged a few words with Doctor on his way out of the Vault, and as he shook his head while passing Brendan. The young man had just barely avoided self-castration while fiddling with an alien counterpart of the Swiss army knife. The Doctor gently removed the contraption from Brendan's hands. Rose suppressed a giggle as she watched the Doctor activate its child-safety lock before returning it to him.

* * *

The Doctor paused at the door to watch Rose at the computer. She sat, hunched, her attention concentrated on the screen as her fingers flew over the keyboard. Her face was lit by faint blue light, and he pictured her here like this, for hours upon hours, immersed in her work. She probably gave everything that she did her all. When her typing slowed and she looked up at him, he moved forward.

"Coffee?" he offered. He'd even come with a cup of the stuff. She rewarded him with a grin. "Oh, don't say it," said the Doctor warningly as she took the cup from his hands.

"Say what? 'Thank you'? Or 'Coffee Boy'?"

He gave no answer and just smiled, letting her tease him. She was always good at bringing him back down to earth. Besides, now that he'd finished checking out the Vault, he missed her. He sat down on the empty chair beside her. "Busy?"

"I'm almost done. I had to write a report on today, and I bet you're not going to do it." She paused to sip the coffee absently.

"That's true," said the Doctor. He watched her type, her fingers flying over the keyboard. It was not long before she hit two keys dramatically and looked at him. "Done!"

The Doctor leaned close to her screen. "'Dear Diary, today we went to Ireland and picked up a souvenir...'"

"Shut up," she said and laughed. "Did you finish checking out the Vault?"

"I haven't gone through _everything_ in detail, if that's what you're asking. Just enough to pass the time until tea."

"Ooh." Rose looked at her watch. "I forgot all about eating."

The Doctor smiled. That explained a lot. She was thinner now than he'd remembered from before. "Well, as Official Coffee Boy, I'm here to remind you."

"Well done," said Rose. "I may keep you around." The Doctor waited patiently as she logged off the computer and took his hand. "We can grab a bite nearby, then come back here later to take the zep home," she said. "Where's Brendan?"

The Doctor looked around. "I don't know. I lost track of him after a while. I did try to safety-lock as many weapons I saw as possible. The kid is going to hurt himself in here one day."

"He's as old as I am."

"I'd never have guessed," said the Doctor truthfully.

"Well, he is. And he's bright. Good at what he does, which you should know isn't in _this_ department. And just not very good at speaking. Be nice with him, yeah?"

"I _am_ nice!" said the Doctor, a little surprised.

Rose squeezed his hand and smiled, and he had to admit that soothed his feathers a bit. "That gob of yours, Doctor, against his... it's just not fair. Just... try not to intimidate him too much. I think he most of all did not expect to ever see me with you. None of this is your fault, of course. I just think his hopes went differently."

"Like with Mickey."

"Like with Mickey," Rose said slowly.

"Martha Jones fancied me, you know." The Doctor mentioned it like it was a brag. Rose heard him, and grinned.

"You'll have to tell me all about that," she said, without a hint of jealousy. "Over tea." She stood up, and a tug on his hand got him to stand up with her. When the Doctor was on his feet, he tugged on _her_ hand, and the momentum of his pull brought her body against his.

Good old Newton. For every action, there was an equal and opposite reaction. He tested that hypothesis again by kissing Rose, and was not disappointed. By the end of the snog, they were both slightly breathless.

"I think I _will_ keep you," said Rose jokingly.

He hugged like she was all he had. And she was.

"Good," said the Doctor.

Less than thirty minutes later, when Rose and the Doctor were at a café in a neighbouring building, they heard a battery of deafening crashes from the direction of Torchwood. It rattled the plates and glasses on their table. The patrons in the café started rising out of their seats in alarm and curiousity. Amongst the first to stand up was Rose.

"Dad," she said.

And then the running started.


	6. Part VI: A Parting

**Author's Note: **I'm sorry, so sorry for the long absence. There was my busy job, and my laptop crashed and burned at one point and I lost the chapters I'd been working on. There's nothing quite discouraging like losing precious saved work! But I'm working on them again and would like to think the second attempt is better than what I had originally. Now I'm writing as much and as quickly as my time permits. In the absence of new DW episodes, I hope this story can fill some of the emptiness (there's action! action! action! in this one) and there's more romance/smut's coming. Thanks for continuing to read this!

* * *

**Part Six**

"Rose!"

Even with the beating her body had taken earlier that day, she was managing to run ahead of the Doctor, but not for long. Her destination was obvious: Torchwood headquarters, and the Doctor's long legs soon caught him up with Rose. He captured her hand in his; they carried on running. Her grip was tight, almost painful, keeping the Doctor's thoughts on the present even though one part of his mind wanted to lose itself in pleasant recollections of how they'd first met...

They ground to a halt as one when the Torchwood Tower came into view. Delight and wonder swelled in the Doctor's chest even as he surveyed the damage to the tower's steel-and-glass entrance: A creature, nearly four storeys tall, seemingly made out of pinkish-grey stone and sand, stood in front of the entrance, looking confused, in the midst of a screaming crowd of humans. Its eyes gleamed like diamonds; brown veins ran through its body like veins running through marble. It surveyed the scene deliberately and did not register any emotion regarding the chaos around it.

"What is it? What is it?" Rose asked, even while she had taken out her phone and was dialing a number. The Doctor could only guess that the question was meant for him.

"It's beautiful," said the Doctor. "But I don't know. Different universe, remember?" He hung back what he thought was a safe distance, and though Rose fought, he managed to keep a tight hold on her.

"Can't be that different—Dad! Are you alright? Are you watching this?"

Pete's voice could be heard plainly over Rose's handphone, and the Doctor made a note to ask her later if the volume on that thing wasn't smashing through her ear drums.

"I'm safely out of the way for now. I've got the window and am watching the security cameras as well. All I can tell you is that there was a rift that blipped on our radar and then _that_ came out out of the ground. Stay out of the way, Rose. I've got others taking care of this. Where are you?"

Rose looked up at the Torchwood Tower and waved at a high storey—the Doctor couldn't make out anything through the highly reflective glass windows, but heard Pete grunt an acknowledgment. What he heard next came as no surprise but was exactly the question the Doctor was dreading.

"What does the Doctor make of it?"

Rose looked at the Doctor and grinned at his look of discomfiture. "He doesn't know yet, Dad."

"Well let's just hope the electrical restraints work. There's nothing else we've got to capture something that big."

The creature's sight was now trained on the entrance to the Torchwood Tower. It took a step forward, and ripped through more steel and glass. A group of agents emerged from the building amidst the shower of glass shards. They were each carrying what the Doctor thought looked like black metal wands. Carefully but quickly the wand-carrying agents ringed the creature. There was a high-pitched whine, then lightning streaked from one wand, to another, to another, until the the creature was enclosed by a ring of blue-white lightning that cracked loudly, spectacularly, and the Doctor assumed, lethally.

The creature cocked its head. It reached a hand out toward the lightning, and the electricity arced to its finger. It showed no sign of pain. If anything, the electricity traveled up its fingers, to its arm, down its body and into the ground with no apparent effect on the creature. It simply blinked and watched.

"It's earthing the electricity!" shouted the Doctor in wonder.

"Dad..." said Rose warningly.

"I heard him," said Pete. "Damn."

"It's some sort of earth... thing. Earth creature—no, that's not right. Earth elementary..."

"Elemental," said Rose.

"You're so brilliant," said the Doctor, beaming.

"I also know what it's after," said Rose, not taking her eyes off the scene in front of her. The creature was earthing the electricity as the agents watched helplessly. It would drain all the power from their electrical restraints in a matter of seconds, and then they would be right back where they started. "Doctor, you've got to think of some way to restrain it. Without killing it, hopefully. It's not done anything harmful..."

"So far," said Pete Tyler ominously.

"It's after the new artifact," said Rose. The Doctor looked at her in surprise. Her voice was firm with certainty. And her eyes were on the Torchwood entrance. Her intention was clear.

"How do you know?" asked the Doctor.

"The creature's hand!" She had to shout, because now they were dashing toward the shattered glass doors into the building interior. The crackling of the electrical restraints was still loud, but starting to sputter. The Doctor glanced quickly as they ran past the creature in the ring of lightning. There was something strange about the hand reaching out to the electricity. It was a chubby hand, with three fingers and two stubs. The Doctor compared it to the other: Another chubby hand, but with five whole fingers. Each finger was the size of a human arm.

The artifact was a ring.

The Doctor's mind raced at the same time they sped towards the vault. The ring was made of metal. The creature would probably be contained by metal.

"Pete! We need a cage!" he shouted.

"For that thing?" Pete Tyler's voice was now crackling over Rose's phone.

"A big metal one!"

"We d— ex—ave a –ig metal one..." Pete's voice faded in and out.

Near Rose and the Doctor, an elevator _dinged_ in the hallway, and Pete collided with the pair as they rounded the last corner just in front of the doors to the Vault. And then they tripped over someone, who dropped something round and metallic. There was a high clang, a yelp from Rose, and a curse from Pete Tyler. Behind them, there was a roar from the creature. At least, the Doctor guessed it was. It sounded like a rocky avalanche.

The Doctor was the first to recover from the human traffic collision and picked up the dropped object. It was the ring. Arm-ring-sized for him and Rose, but correct size for that mysterious creature at the entrance. Grimly, he helped Rose to her feet, who shut her hand phone and returned it to her pocket.

Pete too got up, using Brendan's shivering shoulder as a crutch. He held the young man's shirt in an iron grip. "Somehow I get the feeling _you_ can explain..." said Pete.

"I...I c-can exp-p-plain..."

The Doctor was vaguely aware of this all as he stared at the ring. Experimentally, he dropped the ring on the floor, deliberately. As it touched the ground, the creature roared again. He picked it up swiftly. He looked at Rose and saw in her eyes that she understood as well. They had been safe from the creature all this time until they got off the airship and had let the ring enter Brendan's hands. The creature tracked and followed the ring's location the best way it could—direct contact with the ground.

"Earth elemental," Rose said.

"We need a cage," the Doctor said again.

"A big metal one," said Rose.

"We don't ha—" Pete began.

"London Zoo," said Rose with a grin. Without another word, she dashed into the Vault.

The Doctor looked at the hallway behind them, the way they'd just come. Roaring and loud crashes told him the creature was coming closer, trying to get in, though it would barely fit these narrow hallways.

A plan was forming in Rose's mind—or his, he could not be sure. The ring was in the Doctor's hands, and he could sense her messy thoughts as he held the device: _Teleport. Get a cage at London Zoo. Use the ring as bait. _Yes.

He turned to Pete Tyler, who was already looking at the Doctor expectantly. "We need to use the teleport," he said. "Size will not be a problem, will it?"

"As long as you're not asking to teleport an entire building..."

"No."

"Not a problem, then."

At that moment, Rose emerged from the Vault. To the Doctor's admiration, she was stuffing some saucer-sized black disks—teleportation markers—into a duffel bag, and was on the phone at the same time, arguing with someone from the zoo. Calmly (even as she was verbally flaying the person on the other end of the line), she walked up to Brendan and gripped his shoulder. For all his infatuation with Rose Tyler, the lab technician turned pale, or paler. Rose snapped her phone shut and looked at him. "I need to get to the zoo, and _now_. You're going to send me." Her voice brooked no opposition.

Rose looked at her father and at the Doctor. She hesitated then.

"We'll keep the creature busy till you give us the coordinates for the cage," said Pete firmly.

"Stay safe," she said, before giving her father a hug. There was a small crack in her voice. As she emerged from her father's embrace, the Doctor reached for her at the same time she reached for him. He could read her fear, and it was for his safety. The human Doctor. Now, so very mortal.

"I'll be fine," assured the Doctor.

Pete grinned. "I'll keep him safe for you, love."

"You better," said Rose as she reluctantly removed herself from the Doctor's arms. There was a crashing noise approaching them.

"You better go," said the Doctor, practically pushing her and Brendan away. He tore his eyes away from her and forced himself to concentrate on the creature.

No sonic screwdriver, no second heart, and no TARDIS. The Doctor didn't know how humans handled it, but he was determined to learn.

* * *

The groundskeeper was an old man who should have been less skittish for his age, thought Rose. After he'd heard Rose's request and received confirmation from the zoo's director, who tagged along reluctantly, the old man led them both to a quiet part of the grounds devoid of people, on account of it being surrounded by a tall green wire fence, with a gate and a sign on it that said "Staff only". Rose was glad to see that the landscaping works at the zoo kept the fenced off area fairly invisible, hidden behind a curtain of greenery. That should prevent any scenes that would alarm the public...

"There won't be any _damage_ to our premises or equipment, will there?" asked the director, a man who was really too well dressed for the zoo. Rose suppressed a sarcastic retort.

"We'll try to avoid that as much as possible," she said, as she waited for the groundskeeper to unlock the gate. "You're be compensated if there is. This is for _national security._"

"It's just that I have to a answer to our stockholders..."

"It's for Torchwood," said Rose impatiently. The gate was now open and she stepped through into a fairly large, quiet space which was apparently the dumping ground for a collection of iron cages. She walked immediately to the largest one. The groundskeeper and the director followed nervously.

"Got a large fella, eh?" said the groundskeeper with a shiver in his voice, while the director turned pale.

"That cage costs several _tens_ of _thousands..._" The director saw fit to tell Rose.

"Duly noted," said Rose, as she stopped in front of her chosen cage and removed her duffel bag from her shoulder. She grabbed the teleportation markers she had packed, attaching four to the bottom four corners of the cage. As she positioned each marker, she flipped a switch, turning on a powerful location transmitter inside.

"How tall would you say this cage is?" she asked the groundskeeper as she took out her phone and dialled it.

"It's nearly forty feet high, Miss."

"That may _just_ be large enough—Brendan?"

"M-miss Tyler!" It was a good sign the lab tech was still alive.

"You should be receiving the coordinates. I think the cage will just be large enough. Accuracy is important for this teleport, Brendan!"

"G-got it, Miss T-tyler."

Rose jogged around the cage, checking that it was whole, and secure. She nodded at the two gentlemen with her.

"Ready when you are. Have you got a lock on the creature? How's the—how's everyone there doing?"

"F-fine b-but tired, M-miss Tyler. The creature's c-coming to you in five, four, three, two, one—"

There was a bright flash of light, and Rose shielded her eyes. When it faded and she reopened her eyes, the creature was inside. It barely fit in the cage, and blinked its diamond eyes and took in its surroundings. She heard two gasps of astonishment from behind her. "What is that?" asked the director. It was just before the creature realized its prison, and gave a deafening roar of distress.

Two more flashes of light, and her father and the Doctor were by her side. She could not suppress a squeal as she bounded into the Doctor's arms.

"See, that was easy," cooed the Doctor. "Not the toughest thing we've ever done," he said with the usual hint of smugness.

"Heh," said Pete Tyler, panting.

"Excuse me," said the director.

"Your cage was not damaged," said Rose, stepping back from the Doctor's hug.

"But how will I explain—"

The creature gave another deafening roar, and all human speech was stopped. When it was quiet again, the director opened his mouth, but shut it again as an answering roar like a rock slide sounded far away, and from somewhere _beneath_ them...

"Tell me I didn't hear that," said Pete.

"Maybe it's just some sort of aftershock?" asked Rose.

"No," said the Doctor. He had removed the ring from is jacket pocket and held it in his hands. It glowed a soft blue. "It's a second creature. And it's coming for this one. Since it called for help."

Rose turned to the groundskeeper. "Tell me you have another one of these cages," she said.

The old man shook his head, while the director lost his colour and bluster again. "There's another of these things out there?"

"And from the sounds of it, it's headed here," said the Doctor helpfully. "Nice to meet you, by the way, I'm the Doctor."

"Doctor wh—?"

The creature in the cage grabbed the bars of its prison and shook them violently before giving a roar of pain. The metal of the cage seemed to hurt it.

And again, from far away, there was an answering roar, but closer than before.

The director ran. Rose and the others paid this no mind.

"We're out of cages," said Rose. "And I don't know if we can fit two creatures in there, and that's assuming the second one is as large as this one..."

"At least we're in a less public area," said Pete.

"We may not even need the cage," said the Doctor. "We don't even mean them any harm—and this may help us communicate with them. We just needed to get them out of sight of the muggles and away from expensive property, right?" He touched the iron cage gently. The creature seemed to calm as the ring in the Doctor's grip glowed blue.

"How well are you communicating with them right now?" asked Pete.

"This one here? Fine enough, but I have to admit it's a bit like conversing with an animal. I get... impressions, some memories. It's not good at articulating itself, which is a bit strange if it _is _the owner of this ring."

"How about the other one?" asked Pete Tyler. "The one that's coming. Can you communicate with that one?"

The Doctor looked sober. "That one is literally a different animal. It's a lot more intelligent. And it's not talking to me."

Rose turned toward the groundskeeper, who eyed them all warily from a distance. "Do you have the key to unlock this cage?" she asked him.

"You're not letting that out, are you?" he asked nervously.

"Not right now," said Rose sweetly. But at some point we're going to need the key." She added the magic words: "Torchwood business, you know."

"O-okay. They're in the head office," said the old man. "I'll go fetch them." He left in a hurry.

"I miss my sonic screwdriver," said the Doctor under his breath.

Rose gave a small smile and touched his arm. "I may have something for you," she said. "But it was back in the Vault and well, stuff happened." She looked at the earth elemental, and a thought occurred to her. "Dad, couldn't we just, I don't know, give the artifact back to... it?"

Pete looked pained. "You know Torchwood protocol as well as I do, love."

Rose almost rolled her eyes. "Yeah, and I also know that you're the boss."

Pete cracked a lopsided smile. "Yeah, and that you're the boss of me?"

The Doctor sensed there was a private joke here. But he wasn't ignored for too long, because Pete was now looking at him. "Your thoughts, Doctor?"

"Human job titles can be so confusing..." he began. Rose gave him a _look_. He cleared his throat. "I suppose there's no harm in it. It's just... this device is _gorgeous_."

"Boys and toys," muttered Rose under her breath.

"Oi," said the Doctor, because he could hear _everything. _The sound of many human footsteps approached, and resignedly he turned to see the zoo's director returning to the restricted area, this time escorted by a large group of security men armed with big guns—and they didn't look like they only shot tranquilizers.

"Damn," said Pete. He straightened and put on his Authoritative Face. "I'll take care of this, shall I?"

"Go Boss," said Rose in encouragement as Pete strode toward the armed crowd.

The Doctor looked at her, and they grinned at each other before the Doctor dropped his gaze to the device in his hands again. "I wanted to try to do more with th—"

The ground rumbled beneath them, swiftly growing in intensity so that Rose and the Doctor could barely keep their balance. The creatures moved fast underground, realised the Doctor, and he reached for Rose's hand. The spot of ground beneath them was gaining in height. He backed up against the creature's cage, stringing the device on his other arm and gripping a cage bar for support. Rose took his lead and braced herself against the metal cage as well. It was mere seconds before the ground burst open just where they had been standing, and a second creature, which looked just a little larger than the first, emerged from the ground with a shower of gravel and sand. These pelted Rose and the Doctor.

"This one's even more beautiful!" the Doctor shouted in delight.

"Uh huh," said Rose, shaking sand out of her hair.

The second creature was darker in colour, with shades of midnight-blue to black. It looked older, somehow, and harder, its surfaces like polished glass with threads of silver running through it. Like the first creature, it too was humanoid in shape, with shining eyes. And a glimmer on its body also came from its left hand... another silver ring, glowing softly on its fourth finger. The second creature saw the iron cage and its captive, and everyone present had the strong feeling that it was _not happy._

As the newcomer roared, sending rumbles through the area again, Rose broke from her position against the iron cage and ran towards her father. The armed men were in awe and panic, loading their guns and aiming as best as they could with shaking hands.

"Hold your fire!" shouted Rose. The only things the words accomplished was to make the armed men look toward the zoo director.

"The blonde's crazy! Take it down!"

"This is for _Torchwood_ to handle!" roared Pete.

"And you're doing a fine job of it!" retorted the director sarcastically.

The black earth elemental turned to regard them, and seemed to grow aware of the weapons in their hands. A cloud of wrath seemed to gather around it, making the men even more nervous.

Resolutely, Rose placed herself between the guns and the earth elemental, though her height compared to the giant's made her an ineffective shield. "You will _not_ fire. It won't hurt you!"

"Fire!" screamed the director. "I _order_ you. Who's paying your salaries?" The panicked man grabbed the shot gun from the nearest armed guard.

The black earth elemental opened its mouth and took a step forward.

The director fired a shot—it was hurried, ill-aimed, and low. And uncomfortably in Rose's direction.

Where the shot landed was never clear—the Doctor's and Pete's shouts of "Rose!" were lost in the din of an earth-shattering _craaack, _and a blinding white light forced eyes to close, and arms to be instinctively raised against the almost-painful rays.

When it was cleared and human eyes could see again, Rose and the second creature were gone.

Pete turned toward the zoo's director and knocked the man out with a swift, brutal fist to the jaw.


	7. Part VII: Alien Love Song

**Author's Note: **The story continues... and I would like to add just a small request: Please don't skim/skip the end of this chapter, even if you're reading just for the smut (and it can't happen while Rose and the Doctor are apart...can it?). There's a romantic climax at this chapter's close that I think Rose/Ten shippers may enjoy. Reviews appreciated! Love and thanks to all of you.

* * *

**Part Seven: Alien Love Song**

"If you know what's good for you, you will leave right now," said Pete Tyler grimly to the security men before him. "And take him with you." He nudged the unconscious zoo director with his shoe. As soon as he saw the men following his suggestion, he turned to the Doctor. And the sight broke his heart.

The Doctor stood, looking down at the ground where Rose and the second creature had last been seen. The ground was broken grey rock and churned khaki earth. The Doctor seemed a man adrift without an anchor. Pain, anger and desperate self-control wrestled in his eyes and on his face, so much so that a twinge of fear and concern struck Pete as he approached the man cautiously.

"She's fine, you know," said Pete slowly. "She has to be. That—that was not the result typical of a shot gun. And there's no debris from the creature if it was destroyed." Pete's confidence came from two years of watching his daughter—this gift from another him in another universe—survive and thrive in all manner of difficult and dangerous circumstances. She had more wits, pluck and _luck_ than the other agents at Torchwood, and that was saying something. Possibly, the only match she had in the universe_s_ was in the Doctor, and Pete Tyler found solace in that_._

"You're a thinking man, Doctor. There's just no evidence that the shot harmed them."

There was no answer from the Doctor, but Pete thought he saw hope now fighting in the Doctor's expression as well. The Doctor drew a shaky breath and closed his eyes for a moment. "You're right," he said, his voice shaky and low. "You're right."

The hand phone in Pete's pocket buzzed and vibrated. Hope flared. Even the Doctor's eyes brightened as Pete reached for the phone and answered it as fast as his hands would let him. "Hello? Hello?" But the call had been abruptly cut.

"Who?" asked the Doctor.

Pete did not answer at first. He tried to return the call, but line and the number kept ringing and ringing. Finally, he gave up. Thoughtfully, Pete passed Doctor his hand phone so he could see the caller ID for himself.

"Rose," sighed the Doctor in relief. His body lost a bit of its tension, but it wasn't long before the Doctor looked up again, his eyes glittering, his jaw set.

"That second creature. It was wearing a ring like this one. And it was smart. Not as brilliant as me, of course, but smart. That's what we're up against."

Pete took his phone back from the Doctor, considering this as he watched the shadows around them deepen—the sun was finally setting on this long, long day. Not that tonight would bring them much rest.

"I think we'll be looking at a hostage trade soon enough," said Pete.

* * *

On the other side of the blinding light, Rose had also raised her hands to shield her eyes. Amidst the deafening noise, she had wondered if her time had come. That maybe now, that she had found the Doctor, her luck had run out and it was time to go. Time to die. Maybe the light was the light at the end of the tunnel. She'd see everyone she'd ever lost, and now would have to park her arse in multiverse heaven waiting for eons for the two Doctors to join her.

That thought actually made her a little mad. There was only _so_ much waiting a girl could be expected to tolerate.

When she opened her eyes and lowered her arms, she did not expect to see the scene she'd just left. She was still in the restricted area in the London Zoo. Security men were still there, though the zoo director was unconscious on the ground; her father was furious, and the Doctor... the Doctor was standing still, shock on his face, his knuckles white, looking very small and alone.

Rose looked down at the ground, expecting to see her body in pieces. She'd seen the director's shot gun pointed at her when it had gone off. But she wasn't lying on the ground. She was standing, in a different position from before. And it seemed no one could see her.

"Hello?" She could still talk. "Hey! I'm here!" she called.

_They cannot hear or see you. We're in an invisibility shield that dampens our voices to the world outside._

Rose whirled around toward, paradoxically, the voice in her head. And saw the black earth elemental towering over her. Its eyes and the ring on its finger glowed. They stood in a different place from before.

_I'm sorry for the bright light and the din, _The creature continued._ It was to cover the earth shifting to get us out of harm's way. So yes, you are still alive. _

That was a relief. Rose reached for her phone. Quickly, she dialled the first number at the top of her phone list—her father's. But as soon as she got a dial tone, sudden sparks from the phone burned her fingers and caused her to drop it. She looked up at the black elemental. The creature's eyes glittered.

_No spoiling the illusion of our 'death', please. I would like to see how they act without our presence._

"But my father and the Doctor... look, we were trying to help you!"

_Yet you hold my beloved in an iron cage._

"We did that for its protection as much as ours. We meant no harm! Look, the men with guns are leaving. You've foiled them. Turn the shield off."

The creature looked at her impassively. Rose did not want to call it a stony look—that would be such an awful pun. Helplessly, she turned to watch her father and the Doctor. Each man was quiet—her father strong and resolute; the Doctor, jittery, casting his eyes in every direction for clues and signs. In his hands, the silver ring.

Rose had a sudden idea. She formed a thought in her head. A simple thought. A loud thought. One that would be easy for the Doctor to hear.

_No_, said the earth elemental.

"What?"

_No thoughts of yours will reach him through this shield without my consent._

"Look," said Rose, a little gently. "You have a beloved? I have one too. It's that man, there. And we can help you."

The creature looked questioning. _Can one such as you love a man with so much darkness in his heart?_

The creature's words took a few seconds for Rose to process. She knew the Doctor had tragedy and violence in his past—she loved him nonetheless; they had made him what he was today. She didn't need to know every detail when she would forgive them all. So...

"One such as me?" she asked.

_I have chosen _you_ to communicate with. I trust none of your kind, as they have harmed... so many, so grievously in the past. And even now, your kind harms everything around them, and they harm their own as well. But _you_ were willing to put yourself in danger to prevent harm to me._

"My kind... you mean us humans."

The creature nodded assent.

"And what are you?"

_You called us earth elementals. That is not far from the truth, and will suffice._

"Well, it _is_ a mouthful. What do you call yourselves? What is your name?"

_We are also 'giants'._

Rose clapped her hand over her mouth in surprise and realisation. Of course! They'd found the first ring at the Giant's Causeway.

_My name is –_

Rose clapped her hands over her ears as they filled with the deafening avalanche sound of the giant's name. But it was no use. The creature was talking directly into her head, and somehow, it would seem his name was untranslatable. And very loud.

"Aurgh," said Rose, when the giant had finished speaking. "I'm sorry, but can I call you Al instead?" She was half joking.

_I will think on this._

Rose returned her attention to the Doctor and Pete Tyler. The groundskeeper had returned with a key; he handed this to Pete after offering it to the Doctor, who had looked at it as if it was nothing he had seen before. The half-alien seemed in a daze. Pete laid a gentle hand on his shoulder, and whatever he said to the Doctor was too low for Rose to catch. Then Pete got on the phone, walking a distance away to give the Doctor a bit of privacy. Rose tried to contain her disappointment, knowing what was going to happen next: Pete would take the Doctor and the captive elemental back to Torchwood, possibly not to the Tower but to one of their "abandoned" warehouses in the outskirts of London, away from public eyes.

"We were about to set your beloved free," said Rose, not tearing her eyes away from her Doctor. "That's what you want, isn't it? Then that stupid man came with the guns. We didn't intend that to happen. You have to let me go. We'll do whatever you want, whatever you need us to do. You came for your beloved, didn't you?"

_And the ring. It's what she wanted. What she had lost. What she came for._

"We were about to return it as well! You can see my mind, can't you? You must know I'm telling the truth."

"Rose." It was the Doctor speaking. His voice was low. It sent shivers down Rose's spine. She walked toward him, as close as she could get until there was a strong command from the earth elemental not to get any closer. The Doctor stood ten feet away.

"I'm here, Doctor," Rose whispered. "Even if you can't see or hear me."

"Stay safe," said the Doctor. "I won't lose you, not now." His shining eyes gazed straight at Rose. Straight through her.

"Okay," said Rose weakly.

Pete approached and put his hand gently on the Doctor's shoulder. "Time to go, lad."

Rose turned around to look at the black elemental. "Let me speak to them. I can find out where they're going!" she said urgently before turning around again to watch the Doctor nodding slowly.

"Did you just call me 'lad'?" asked the Doctor.

Pete looked a little sheepish. "It slipped out, Doctor. It could have been worse...I said it because the other word that was coming might have scared you off."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. It was the last expression Rose saw on his face before the Doctor, Pete, and the caged elemental faded out of view and out of her hearing. The teleport from Torchwood One had kicked in.

Rose cursed under her breath and retrieved her hand phone off of the ground where she had dropped it. She tried to make a call, not caring what the black elemental would do. But the batteries on the phone were dead. The elemental had drained the batteries.

_I am sorry._

Rose looked at the elemental in hurt fashion. "I thought you said you trusted me."

_I said I trusted none of your kind. I just _mis_trust you a little less._

"What now, then?"

_You are my captive until my beloved is free and in possession of her own ring again._

"You'll find us willing to do that, I think. We were _going_ to do that."

_Perhaps so. We will see. And we will converse somewhere safer than this._

To Rose's surprise, the black elemental moved gracefully as it stretched out its arm and lowered its hand to the ground before her feet. It was an invitation to step into its massive grasp. Rose looked at it hesitantly.

_Trust goes both ways, Rose, _said the elemental._ The way we are travelling would damage humans and any beings with soft flesh. I think your beloved would prefer you unharmed, am I correct?_

Rose smiled as the thought occurred to her that this was the new way of taking the Underground. She stepped carefully onto the giant's palm, as large as an oversized armchair. The black glass was as smooth and hard up close as it looked from afar. For better purchase, she found herself sitting inside its palm and holding on to its fingers. She squealed as the giant lifted her through the air and in front of its chest and used its other hand to cup around her gently. This had to be what small animals felt like when they were being held by humans, Rose thought, except human hands were probably more comfortable.

_I can't help that, _said the elemental, reading her mind. _But I can do this._

The world disappeared in a cacophony of grinding noises as the earth elemental took Rose into the ground.

* * *

"It slipped out, Doctor. It could have been worse...I said it because the other word that was coming might have scared you off," said Pete Tyler.

The world turned white then as Torchwood teleported them according to Pete's instructions. When the Doctor could see again, they were alone in the middle of a cavernous warehouse. Its interior was dimly lit. The huge cage that held the first earth elemental actually looked small in this space.

"Ah, here we are then," said Pete in relief.

"You were saying?" prompted the Doctor.

"Saying what?" Pete asked elusively. He walked to the side of the warehouse and found the panel of switches that controlled the lights. When he flicked some on, the bright lights only served to better illuminate the Doctor's questioning expression as Pete suddenly found himself face-to-face with the tall, and very thin, man. Damnit.

"You were going to call me something else before you said 'lad'. So what was it?"

Pete Tyler, head of Torchwood One, actually blushed. "'Son', okay?" he blurted to the Doctor. "I was going to call you 'son'. Go on, laugh, and tell me how many hundreds or millions of years old you are."

The Doctor actually looked stunned, then he smiled, then he look pained. It was better than the mocking reaction that Pete had expected, so he simply shrugged, and set to pulling off the canvases covering the furniture and equipment along the walls of the warehouse. Before long, he found a couple of office chairs that he rolled up next to the elemental's cage.

"Have a seat, Doctor."

The Doctor dropped into a chair like a puppet with its strings cut. Now that Pete could look at him under the bright lights of the warehouse, he supposed "son" had not been too inappropriate for his instincts. The Doctor's hair was mussed, his clothes too large, and his face and build did give him the air of someone young, even if his memories literally stretched over eons. He was gazing at the captured elemental, which had been surprisingly silent all this time since the gunshot at the zoo.

"You were right, you know," said the Doctor. "Back there. Saying that Rose is okay. I should have figured it out. Look at this—" he gestured at the earth elemental. "It didn't react at all when the shot hit. And it was fairly vocal while distressed before. Now this."

The elemental watched them, its eyes bright and alert. Pete had to agree. Its silence was not born of despair. It was waiting, watchful.

Pete sat down next to the Doctor. "Back there, before we were interrupted by the guy I punched out—"

"Good show, that."

"—Thanks, but, we were talking about giving this creature its ring back. Should we? Rose did mention she couldn't use it, which would seem to hint it doesn't respond to human commands."

"Well, human brains aren't built for it... or,_ well, _I should say aren't _trained_ for it; some talented individuals here and there claiming to have psychic ability _might_ be able to wield it, but this would be useless in the hands of most humans." The Doctor leaned forward, considering. "But in the hands of these creatures, these rings could do more, much more." He looked at Pete. "You saw what happened back there. I think we were all victims of a _glamour._"

"A glamour?"

"And I don't mean your televised BAFTA ceremonies and your diamonds and your red carpet, I mean the older meaning of the word. A spell, an enchantment. An illusion that we believed."

"What illusion?"

The Doctor seemed to be figuring it out as he spoke. "Aurgh!" he suddenly grabbed his hair. "That was it! They were still there! The ring casts _illusions_. It can make things visible _and _invisible. All the other creature had to do when the shot was fired was hide itself using its ring! And it hid Rose as well. It moves fast, and I said it was smart."

"But it's still holding her captive."

"We have something it wants. Its friend here. Locked in a cage that hurts them to touch. And it seems this creature here won't go anywhere without its ring..."

The Doctor drew the silver band out of his pocket and gazed at it. When it was not glowing, it looked like an ordinary piece of silver. "A ring," he mused. "A ring of power. Dangerous in the wrong hands..." He looked at the elemental. "If I gave you this, you'd find a way to just escape and go back where you came from, won't you?" The elemental's eyes glittered. "But your friend now has something I want, too. I can't return this till I get her back."

The elemental moaned.

"And if your friend won't talk to me, I'll have to try something else. Perhaps we can fight illusion with illusion."

Pete Tyler could only watch as the Doctor closed his eyes and the ring started glowing in his hands.

* * *

Rose should have realised this earlier, but travelling underground was a lot darker than she had imagined. She was well-protected from soil and rocks while sitting inside the giant's cupped hands, but sand and small stones occasionally got through and pelted her. Dust was everywhere; she had to breathe through the cloth of her shirt. Sight was useless—travelling underground seemed all about darkness and grinding noises and abrasion. But they seemed to be moving fast. She just didn't know where they were going.

_We're here._

She heard a last shattering of rocks before there was silence and cooler air hitting her skin. She felt the giant's hands unfolding and blinked her eyes, mindful of the dust particles on her lashes. She shook herself off and felt sand fall from her hair and clothing. The light where they were was dim—as her eyes adjusted, she saw they were in a huge, deep cavern, and had come through a tunnel in one side. Far above, there was a small hole open to the purple sky of late evening. A few stars twinkled above her. Somewhere in the darkness of the corners of the cavern, there was the faint sound of a stream.

After some coughing, Rose managed to ask: "Where are we?"

_Somewhere safe._

All this cavern needed, Rose decided, was a few winged mammals and a Batmobile. Rose stepped carefully off the giant's hands and gratefully stretched her legs. But she had had a long day and it wasn't long before she sat down and leaned tiredly against a rock. She was exhausted and she missed her bed, and most of all she missed the Doctor. It all seemed so stupid. This had all resulted from misunderstandings and bad luck and bad timing.

"How long will you keep me here?" she asked, though she was approaching the point where she was too tired to care anymore.

_As long as needed._

The cavern brightened just a little as the giant's ring started giving off a red light.

_The Dark One is trying to find you, _said the giant._  
_

The Dark One? "You mean the Doctor?"

_That is not his true name. _

Rose was silent, trying to listen, both with her ears and in her head. But the only voice she heard was her own and the elemental's. "You're still blocking all contact for me, aren't you?" asked Rose finally.

_He is using the ring. He will not return it to my beloved._

"He might if you let me talk to him," snapped Rose. "I'll find out where he is. We can go to him, sort everything out. I know this may sound old, but this is all just a huge misunderstanding."

The creature did not answer. Rose turned to look at it. When it was still, and seen against the wall of the cavern, it seemed part of its surroundings, part of the Earth. Its eyes appeared to be closed.

"You said before that trust goes both ways," said Rose.

_The ways of Man are always deceitful. _

"So did you lie to me too when you said that? Does that make you any better?"

_Silence, child. I am thinking._

Rose sighed as she lay back on the floor of the cavern and tried to make herself comfortable. She was glad that at least the cavern was open to the stars, and she kept her eyes on the sky. If the Doctor was trying to reach her, he would hear nothing but silence. He would give up, and maybe then he would try something else... maybe return the ring and let the other elemental go free. Rose didn't know what would happen to her then, but somehow the Doctor would find her. He had to.

Oddly, the sky seemed to be snowing.

Rose blinked. It was summer, wasn't it? Well, late-spring-early-summer, but it still should not have been snowing, unless they were in Alaska or Australia. What time was it in Australia? Panic gripped Rose for a moment before it eased. There was nothing she could do about it right now.

She tried to relax again as she watched the snowflakes fall, swirling in the air and glittering in the faint starlight. And as they fell down to touch her, she felt nothing. Nothing at all. It was beautiful but strange. She raised a hand to catch a snowflake, and tried to swallow her surprise as it fell _through_ her flesh. Suddenly the cavern was filled with glowing white crystals, all falling slowly, twinkling as they spiralled down. The snowflakes multiplied the precious light in the darkness, turning into small, shining white flowers as they touched the floor of the cavern.

Rose slowly drew a breath in, and found that she was crying.

* * *

It hadn't taken long for the Doctor to find Rose and the second elemental using the ring. Not that the black elemental hadn't made it difficult—all attempts at communicating with either the elemental or Rose yielded no answers. The Doctor's attempts at contact were being ignored or blocked—possibly both. But the second elemental had a second ring, and the Doctor found that using one ring to find another was no problem at all—even now, he felt a pull underground, to somewhere north and west of his current position. It was so simple it even took him by surprise.

"I know where they are," he murmured to Pete, while keeping his eyes closed. He considered what he could do. The pull was just a feeling, not specific enough for him to be able to pinpoint the source on a map, or to calculate its coordinates with his _brilliant_ time lord mind. By the time he could find and travel to the other ring's exact location underground by feel, the elemental could move somewhere else, more quickly than the Doctor could follow. It would seem the earth was truly the creature's element.

Still, he concentrated on the pull of the other ring, letting his mind follow the thread of energy that linked them both. As he did, pieces of the rings' origins were revealed to him as well: They had been made at the same time, long ago, from the same metals, by the same creator—and they had also been bequeathed to the two earth elementals at the same time, as far as the Doctor could tell. There had been a ceremony where they had been presented, and the earth elementals had placed the rings on each other's fingers in the presence of the ring's maker and others...

"They're handfasting rings," said the Doctor aloud, speaking as much to himself as to Pete Tyler. No wonder the captive creature had been so eager to regain the ring—not just for the its powers but for its personal history as well. "I'm sorry," whispered the Doctor to the elemental in the cage before him. "I'm so sorry. But I need it to find Rose..."

The elemental moaned softly. The Doctor kept his eyes closed. Pete was silent, and the silence in the warehouse grew so complete that the Doctor found it easy to push it entirely into the background of his mind, and concentrate on the position of the other ring. It was underground, yes. It was no longer moving either. Its wearer's mind was behind a wall, stubbornly shutting the Doctor out. He had tried to shout at it and mentally blast it; he had begged before it but it had all come to naught... he got the feeling that the other elemental was adamantly averse to him for some reason, and would not allow any mental contact.

So the Doctor tried illusion. He used the pull of the other ring as an anchor, a target at which he would project the images he wanted Rose to see—it would be a one-way visual contact, but better than nothing. It was the only way he could think of for getting through. If mind-to-mind communication was not allowed, and he wanted to send Rose some kind of assurance, he could use the ring in his possession to cast illusion.

He started simply, making a guess that Rose, being underground, would miss seeing the sky. He smiled as he thought first of snow—the "snowfall" that he and Rose had watched that Christmas after defeating the Sycorax, the happy memory of elation and new energy running through his regenerated body after his recovery, and the knowledge that Rose accepted him and wanted to keep travelling with him. So he made the snow fall for her... a small sprinkle at first, tiny flakes that would twinkle for her. He wanted her to remember that Christmas, and also remember the ice flakes that had fallen down upon them on the Bohdin planet, and the time he had brought her to the double-planet in the Vydiren system to watch the annual flower fall, when the two planets that revolved around each other pulled closer to cause flowers from one to fall to the other...

Concentrating, the Doctor made the illusion grander, even though he had no idea if it would all fit the space that Rose and the other elemental occupied—for Rose, he would fill the whole sky with snowflakes that never made her feel cold, and fields with flowers that never aged or faded. For her, he painted galaxies of stars that he had wanted to show her but never got to; a world with trees that bore silver leaves that rang softly in the breeze, red-purple grass and burnt orange skies—the open fields of Gallifrey, the home to which he could never return. He had no home planet and no TARDIS now, but with this ring he projected his memories, and with a smile, he realised he could imagine and embellish as well. He might not be able to touch Rose but falling flowers would caress her. He made the purple grass bow to her beauty and imagined the gentle blades tangling their fingers in her hair. Silver leaves flying and tumbling and teasing her eyes with hidden messages. Golden light from multiple setting suns shining upon her skin. He imagined all this; and knew all the travelling, all the sights they'd seen before had all been for _her_. Moments and memories made more beautiful because of her being there with him. He'd been in love with her for so long... why had he ever tried to deny it? And if they could no longer travel as they once had, if he could not speak, then he could paint images _now_: Sights that they had seen, sights that _he_ had seen, visions that he had always wanted to share with her. This was the way he loved her, had always loved her, would always love her, for _ever_.

He was using illusions to paint the truth.


	8. Part VIII: The Exchange

**Author's Note: **The Doctor never quite opened to Rose the way he did with Martha about Gallifrey, and I really wanted to fix that and have him show her in a way that's not been done before--his casting illusions. And oh, how badly I wanted to quote from Radiohead's "Subterranean Homesick Alien" for this chapter but there were no lines that would work! Anyway, thanks for everyone's patience...this chapter took a while because busy day job stuff distracted me again. (That said, this economic downturn may be give me a bit more writing time in the near future--ha!) The Torchwood adventure wraps up (or seems to) in this chapter, and naughtiness/romance will return in the next ones. Hope you like! Thanks.

_Let no one sleep!__  
Let no one sleep!  
Even you, O Princess, in your cold room,  
Watch the stars  
That tremble with love and with hope.  
My secret is hidden within me,  
My name no one shall know..._ — Puccini, "Nessun Dorma" (from Turandot, translated)

* * *

**Part VIII: The Exchange**

Grrrxxnylkggrrh found himself confused and disturbed from his reverie. Strong emotions were washing over him from his female human captive. Rose was emanating waves of surprise, joy, incredulity and melancholy, so overwhelming that the earth giant was curious as to the sudden cause. Hearing weeping, the giant opened his eyes, and was immediately disoriented. A grand webbed galaxy of stars was slowly spinning above his head, while his other senses informed him he was still safe underground. The girl was lying on her back, tears streaming from her eyes and into her hair; as Grrrxxnylkggrrh watched, a laugh escaped her. The earth elemental recognised before too long that the illusion filling the cavern was the Dark One's work. Having tried and failed to communicate through Grrrxxnylkggrrh's mental and psychic shield, the Dark One was using his beloved's ring for the ability to cast glamours—except that the illusions were not trying to deceive.

This was a new puzzle. And the Dark One was already a mystery. It vexed Grrrxxnylkggrrh, as he was all at once encountering many things that were new to his experience, and earth elementals were by nature cautious, deliberate creatures that were used to mulling over their thoughts in cautious, deliberate fashion. They tended to prefer that no stone was left unturned (if one could pardon the pun) in their contemplations, recognising with a lifespan of eons they had plenty of time for thinking things through, to unearth the needed answers. Giants usually had the luxury of time, but they also recognised when quick action was needed. These could be somewhat stressful moments.

A glamour that was not a glamour did not make sense to Grrrxxnylkggrrh, so reluctantly he resolved to discover the reason for the Dark One's strange effort. The elemental probed the (cautiously!) the energy link between the two rings, finding the Dark One at the other end, engrossed as he raked his memories (centuries' worth, as Grrrxxnylkggrrh found) for sights he wanted to share with the human Rose. The Dark One chose according to what the two had enjoyed together before, what he thought she liked, what he found exceptionally beautiful, and what would bring her joy.

Grrrxxnylkggrrh withdrew and considered this unexpected turn. As he watched the illusion in the cavern, the stars from the spinning galaxy were now moving down towards them. Some fell sparkling to the floor of the cavern like tiny meteorites, while the rest of the stars started showering down slowly. They never reached the ground, hovering instead while they elongated and turned into oval silver leaves that hung from trees with white boughs. The floor of the cavern started moving like a sea, until Grrrxxnylkggrrh could make out the carpet of lush red-purple grasses springing out of the earth and waving languidly in imagined breezes.

The human girl drank in this sight, struck breathless by its beauty, and Grrrxxnylkggrrh received the knowledge from her emotions that, like Grrrxxnylkggrrh, this was nothing she had ever seen before. The strange landscape perplexed Grrrxxnylkggrrh; this illusion was not-real, yet it seemed to come from a true memory.

The earth elemental used his ring to study the Dark One's mind about this image—and reeled. Loss and sorrow flooded through him, and the earth elemental moaned in unconscious sympathy. The Dark One had lost this, his home, and everyone he had known on it—all destroyed in a sacrifice to rid the universes of an enemy so powerful that its grip reached the Dark One's heart as well, because he had fought them for so long. It was clear now: Darkness surrounded him because it was the way he had learned to fight, alone, using the weapons of his enemies against themselves. The Darkness came not from the Dark One's own heart. Not originally, anyway.

And the Dark One loved Rose. With a single heart that was paradoxically new and very, very old at the same time. It was a heart that had borne many burdens, and even now, the destruction of the Dark One's own world weighed heavily upon it. The memory was an open wound, and the Dark One was baring it to Rose—in the hopes that what brought him sorrow might bring her joy.

It astounded Grrrxxnylkggrrh. And intrigued and moved him, which was remarkable considering how he _was_ a massive earth giant... and he came to a new decision. Man and giant were more alike than he had thought. They both understood love. With his mind, the black earth elemental strengthened the link between the two silver rings. He dropped the communication barrier he had set up

_Doctor, _said Grrrxxnylkggrrh through the link, _We should talk._

* * *

_Gallifrey._

Rose gazed up at the silver trees and orange skies with eyes too afraid to blink for fear of missing even a moment of the sight. Tears came copiously, and snot inconveniently impeded her breathing, but Rose was pinned and unmoving. She was gazing at the Doctor's memories of his home planet. He didn't need to tell her, she just _knew._ If he could have brought her there, he would have. But he hadn't, because he couldn't, and now he was.

Her heart felt like it was breaking, and Rose reached for a hand by her side that wasn't there. The Doctor wasn't with her, she remembered. That was why he was sending the visions in the first place. He didn't know that this beauty was almost more than she could take. She cried even harder as the grasses of pink and violet leaned down and stroked her skin and she couldn't feel them. The flowers that fell upon her skin left only shadows of kisses. She wanted desperately for everything to be real, but it wasn't, and she knew he felt the same.

A sob choked in her throat and Rose had to sit up to cough, violently. As she struggled for breath, she became aware of a gentle, helpful pressure tapping on her back. When she could breathe again without coughing, she looked up in disbelief to see the black earth elemental carefully holding his finger close to her back, ready to tap her again if she needed the help.

_Are you alright? _asked the giant.

Wordlessly, Rose nodded. It was both a disappointment and a relief that the cavern was empty of illusions again. The Doctor's projection had stopped. But something was different. She felt it in her head. It was less... quiet.

_Rose? _

It was his voice. She could hear him. "Doctor!"

_Rose. Am I brilliant or am I brilliant?_

"You're brilliant!" Rose never meant the words more as she shouted them, hoping he could hear her. The cavern echoed her voice back.

_I'm going to see you soon. Al's bringing you to me._

Al? Who was Al? _Oh. _Rose looked at the earth elemental and was amazed to see it acknowledging the new name with a nod. It was also offering its hand to her again. More travel by Underground. She wasn't a fan, but if she could look forward to the Doctor at the end of the journey, that made it wonderful.

As Rose climbed into the earth elemental's hand, she couldn't help the wide grin creeping across her face.

"Okay, Al," she said when she was ready. "_Allons-y!"_

* * *

The Doctor laughed aloud. Did he just hear Rose say _'allons-y'? _He was going to snog her within an inch of her life when he saw her again. And he realised, grinning even wider with his eyes closed, that there was no stopping him doing that later. It was something he'd often wanted to do when their adventures were over...

"An update, Doctor?" Pete's voice inserted itself into the Doctor's awareness. The Doctor realised that until Rose and Al arrived at the warehouse, he was going to be at the center of two conversations, one of them in his head.

"They're coming, Pete. He's bringing Rose," said the Doctor.

"'He'?"

"_Al—_er, the other earth elemental. The black one? Him. Coming for _her, _his wife," the Doctor pointed his chin in the caged elemental's direction. "I suppose even earth elementals are somewhat traditional... and they are old, very old."

"Where did they come from?" asked Pete, and the Doctor relayed the question to the black earth elemental through the rings' link.

(From Rose, the Doctor now received faint impressions of flying dust and earth; heat, darkness, and deafening noise.)

From Al, the Doctor received an image of this Earth millions and millions of years ago. Before the time of humans, it had been an idyllic home of elementals and creatures that no longer lived in the same physical plane (though they maintained their link with Earth) and whose stories and legends remained alive through fairy tales. The elementals remained on a different plane that remembered Earth before the time of Man.

"Ah," said Doctor aloud, "different dimension."

"Different universe?" asked Pete.

"No, _well_, not _literally_," said the Doctor. "I mean different dimension, or different plane, if you will. They are many, you know. More than human senses can perceive—" It was becoming a lecture, and Pete, luckily, stopped him with another question.

"How'd they get here?"

"Rift," said Doctor even before the elemental needed to answer. Al started relaying the missing pieces: It was Hlllrrqxxxynlly, his beloved, who found the first accidental rift. Being intrigued, the first earth elemental was about to go through when the doorway closed suddenly—upon her hand. She lost two fingers and her ring, and was inconsolable over the latter. Hlllrrqxxxynlly wanted to open a doorway into the humans' dimension retrieve the ring, but Al would have none of it. The arguments had frustrated Al—they couldn't even detect her ring anymore, but then they could again (when Brendan dropped it), and Hlllrrqxxxynlly had another elemental open a doorway for her, using her lost ring as a beacon to Pete's World. Crossing over, Hlllrrqxxxynlly became vulnerable—the only way back was if she had her ring again, or another one like it.

_So the rings can open portals to different dimensions? a_sked the Doctor.

_To _this _one...once, long ago, we were here when humans were here as well, but that was early in Man's history. We have been avoiding this realm for a long time now, _Grrrxxnylkggrrh said ponderously. _There is much that humans do that we do not agree with._

The Doctor could not blame him...humans had plundered their planet in ways that the earth elementals would no doubt have taken as antagonistic.

"So your beloved crossed over to retrieve her ring first, and you didn't join her... until she called for help," said the Doctor aloud so Pete could follow the story as well. "Then you used your dimension-crossing ring to come over. Neat things these are, really."

"And I take it we can't keep the one you've got there," said Pete.

"Nope," said Doctor, with a bit of regret of his own. "Not if we want Rose back, anyway. I think I'll choose Rose."

"We've got to unless you want Jackie to kill us," said Pete.

"Ooh," grimaced the Doctor. "Yeah, that."

_You two need to get your own rings, _said Al through the ring's link, and the Doctor was surprised at the reproach in the earth elemental's voice.

_Who? Me and Pete? a_sked the Doctor stupidly.

_You and Rose._

_Neato mind-linking glamour-casting rings? They are a bit rare in this dimension..._

The feeling of reproach and eye-rolling amazement at the Doctor's stupidity became stronger. _It's not about the technical abilities of the rings, Doctor, _said Al.

The Doctor's eyebrows shot upwards. Jewellery was an area outside his interest if the pieces weren't bio-dampers or had no technical uses attached to them. 'Cause if they didn't, they were just bits of shiny, weren't they? _Well, _they were sometimes used by humans as symbols of taste, symbols of wealth, symbols of identity, symbols of maturity, symbols of love... _oh._

There was a long pause before Al spoke again, haltingly. _I am sensing... panic. Have I said something that is frightening, Doctor?_

"Nope! Nope, nothing," said the Doctor, much too fast, and much too loudly.

_I just thought it would be natural, _said Al. _This girl promised to stay with you forever, didn't she? _The Doctor realised that the giant must have picked up on that memory...

"What's the topic now?" asked Pete, while the Doctor simply shook his head and hoped Rose was not following the conversation about jewelry. Rose... was strangely silent.

_Rose? _The Doctor received no answer.

_I apologise, Doctor. She is not faring well on this longer journey. I hope you can heal her as your name suggests, _said Al.

The Doctor felt his heart suddenly start thumping hard in his chest. "What's wrong with her?" he gasped, though his act of asking answered his own question. Rose and Al were travelling underground... she was probably not getting enough air.

_I am moving as fast as I can, Doctor. We are almost there._

"Doctor?" It was Pete. "What is it?"

"Do we have a tank of oxygen around here?"

"Yes—"

"Get it! It's Rose...she'll need help breathing!"

Pete cursed and moved, while the Doctor tried to calm and rein in his emotions—getting shouty had never worked around the Tylers, and the Doctor did not need to know if Pete could swing an arm as hard as Jackie. Rumbling from underground was heard, and the Doctor finally opened his eyes, familiarising himself with his own surroundings again.

_Almost there._

A crack opened loudly in the concrete floor of the warehouse. It expanded into a spiderweb of lines radiating twenty feet wide. Pete and the Doctor backed themselves out of the network; the Doctor noticed that the spot for the earth elemental's appearance always managed to clear the iron cage.

"Still got the key?" the Doctor asked Pete, shouting over the roar of the earth opening up.

"Yeah," Pete shouted as they watched the floor rising and breaking, pieces sliding over one another as the black elemental pushed up and out of the ground before stepping to one side. Seeing Pete and the Doctor, the large creature bent downwards, lowering his hands before them and uncurling his fingers gracefully like a flower. Rose lay in the heart, rolled up and on her side, barely breathing. Her hair and her hands covered her face. Her clothing had changed to light brown, coated as she was in dust and earth.

"No... oh no, no, Rose..." The Doctor dropped to his knees and laid the silver ring in the black elemental's hand, attention shifting completely to Rose as he cradled and removed her carefully from the giant's hold. He was aware of Pete coming up to them with an oxygen tank and mask. The Doctor brushed aside Rose's hair, noting the plume of thick dust that flew up as he did so. As he tried to remove her hands from her face, she responded, to the Doctor's relief, curling her fingers around his and coughing weakly. She could hold the mask with some help, using it as she inhaled, but every exhale was a cough, and the coughing grew in volume and intensity as the Doctor administered firm pats to her back.

_Is she alright?_

"Getting there, I think," said the Doctor, tearing his eyes away from Rose at last to look up at the black elemental towering over him. He heard Pete Tyler sigh in relief, touching the Doctor's shoulder a brief moment before walking over to the cage and unlocking it for the elemental within. The cage door swung open.

The Doctor hoped that the excitement was now over, as the first elemental emerged and approached the second—hands open for its ring. If there was any conversation between the two elementals, the Doctor could not hear it; He only watched as Al bowed his head and took Hlllrrqxxxynlly's whole and undamaged hand in his. Solemnly he placed the silver band on the first elemental's remaining ring finger. Then the two creatures stared at each other, their hands joined. It was a moment that all present seemed loathe to disturb, until the silence was broken by Al's voice in their heads.

_It is over. We will not stay, _said Al.

"I could hear that," said Pete.

The Doctor opened his mouth to say something, but could not think of what. "I... er, hope that not everything on your visit to this dimension was bad... We were actually taking care not to harm."

Al nodded to him. _We will try to remember._

A blue-white light shone from the middle of the warehouse, it looked as if the very air was a fabric torn in two. Light was pouring in around them from the breach. The Doctor could only see silhouettes as the two giants approached the light and stepped into it. It dimmed; the tear closed and then there was no trace left of it at all.

Pete turned away from the sight first, walking toward the Doctor and Rose, his face grim as he lowered himself to check on Rose. Her coughing had stopped, but she still breathed laboriously. He seemed satisfied as Rose opened her red eyes over the oxygen mask and looked blearily at them.

"Do I need to call for medical help?" Pete asked.

Rose shook her head. Pete squeezed her shoulder, raising himself as he did so. It was not long before he had his phone out and making a call to Torchwood base. The Doctor took that moment to sigh deeply in relief as he hugged Rose, grateful for her presence in his arms. He kissed her hair lightly, and got earth on his lips for the trouble.

"I think this is the dirtiest I've ever seen you," he remarked lightly as he tried to blow the specks off of his lips.

Rose stirred. The Doctor looked at her as she removed her mask to whisper, very softly and wryly, "you look good too." Her red eyes crinkled in mirth. Which probably meant he looked terrible. He grinned, not caring.

"Do you remember this morning?" asked Rose softly. It was clear that it took an effort to speak.

"The Giant's Causeway?" It seemed days ago.

Rose shook her head. "Before that. You had said you had a good feeling..."

"'—About today.' _Oh._" The Doctor thought about it. "Well, it _was _a good day, just like old times—though it was probably better for me than it was for you." His smile widened when Rose nodded with mild annoyance. Impulsively the Doctor cupped Rose's (dusty) cheek in his hand and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. No more than that, though he was sorely tempted to, and do other things besides.

A metallic _click_ made the Doctor and Rose look up as Pete snapped his phone shut. Pete smiled as the both of them looked at him expectantly.

"Alright, you two," said Pete Tyler. "We're going home."


	9. Part IX: Here

**Author's Note:** This is _not_ the last installment. And I apologise in advance for the ending of this chapter. (You'll see why.) Reviews much appreciated. (Let me know if you're loving or hating this!)

_And high up above or down below  
__When you're too in love to let it go__  
But if you never try then you'll never know  
__Just what you're worth  
__Lights will guide you home__  
And ignite your bones  
And I will try to fix you._ — Coldplay, "Fix you"

* * *

**Part IX: Here**

"Tea with honey and lemon," announced the Doctor as he stood in the open doorway to Rose's room with a mug in his hand.

"Coffee boy!" cried Rose in delight, happy for the distraction as the Doctor came in and sat on the bed beside her. Recuperation from acute dust inhalation was...well, recuperation, which was to say, utterly uneventful aside from all the attention and babying from her mum and the Doctor, and the occasional visit from her younger brother when he came in and bounced on her bed (after the room had been straightened and child-proofed). Between her three most-frequent visitors though (Dad only dropped in after work), Rose had a definite favourite, and it was the one who would stare at her most earnestly with his brown eyes and ask, "How are you feeling?"

Like now.

"Better," Rose answered the Doctor frankly after taking a sip of the tea.

"How's the throat?"

"Terrible," rasped Rose with a smile. And that was true, but the smile was there for other reasons, and Rose's heartbeat quickened as the Doctor pressed his lips to her temple. With physical contact, the half-alien could speak directly into her head if he chose to, and hear her thoughts as well, and at times like this, that little skill was very convenient.

_Well, get better quick._

_Why? a_sked Rose. _Are you getting cabin fever?_

"I've already been out and around, I'll have you know," said the Doctor, drawing back, with a bit of a pained look on his face. "Jackie dragged me out just now, said she was tired of seeing me in Pete's clothes."

Rose grinned widely and gave the Doctor a second look. He did look more like himself. Shirt and tie and trousers and a jacket that fit, finally. All with pinstripes, of course. He even preened as Rose gazed at him. She touched his hand.

_Yeah, _said Rose. _I was getting tired of seeing you in Pete's clothes too. _She took another casual sip of her tea. _Or any clothes, really._

The Doctor gaped before the brightest beaming smile spread across his face. "Why, Rose Tyler, you are a dirty girl—"

_Can't blame a girl for trying. You took the guest room for the last two nights... _She didn't need to complete the thought, but let her longing for him find its own way through to his mind.

The Doctor quietened. "I thought it better to let you rest. Besides, I did actually get shooed out by your mum and Delia when they were getting you cleaned after we first got you back..."

Rose nodded as she finished her tea. Without a word, the Doctor removed the empty cup from her hand and reached to place it out of their way on her bedside table. As he did so, conversation was stopped momentarily until he turned towards her again and wrapped her hands in his.

The helpful action was very domestic, Rose couldn't help thinking.

"Bite your tongue," said the Doctor.

"I didn't say anything," Rose whispered with a smile.

"I know what you were thinking," he scolded.

_Sometimes I miss the giant's ring_, confessed Rose. _Being able to talk without phones and to do it anywhere at all. Being able to do that with you._

_I had a choice between the ring and you. It was an easy decision to make, Rose._

She could sense there was something he was keeping from her. There was a door she could feel in his mind, behind which it seemed more thoughts were moving. She was curious, but not enough to press the point. Besides, more interesting things were happening outside. The Doctor was lying beside her, sharing the pillows that had been propped up behind her back, holding her hand as his lips lightly kissed her shoulder. Rose wished she was wearing something more sexy than long-sleeved white cotton pyjamas covered in pink balloons. Though it probably would have been too much to ask her mum and Delia to put her in a scandalous silk nightie just for recuperating in bed.

The Doctor giggled, and Rose realised he had read that thought from her.

"Shut up," whispered Rose.

"I didn't say anything," the Doctor whispered back, and she heard the teasing smile in his voice. The proximity of his lips to her ear made her shiver, and it seemed he read her mind again as he gently exhaled a warm breath across it. Rose tightened her fingers around his and closed her eyes. Her heart was beating like a triphammer. If he was going to lie down beside her and tease her with his closeness, who knew what other thoughts of hers he would pick up...

"Anything you don't want me to see," said the Doctor softly, "you put behind a closed door."

_I'm not as good at this as you are_, said Rose.

_I know. Sometimes I see your lips moving while you're thinking your thoughts._

Rose elbowed the Doctor.

_Ouch, _he said in hurt tones.

Rose opened her eyes and grinned at the Doctor, who of course, was perfectly unharmed.

_So did you come in here just to tell me how slow I am? _she asked.

_I brought tea, _said the Doctor indignantly. _And I missed you, _the Doctor added after a while.

_Shopping with my mum must have been torture. Sometimes she even wears _me _out._

_It wasn't too bad. Maybe because there was Tony to run after half the time._

Rose laughed at the mental image that evoked. The Doctor had become the Babysitter.

_Oi,_ he said, picking up that thought as well.

"I'd like to get out of here soon," said Rose wistfully. "_I'm_ getting cabin fever."

"There's always the zeppelin, if Pete will allow us at it again."

_That's true._

"Tomorrow then. It'll be a Sunday," mused the Doctor. "Could even suggest it as a family day for everyone."

_Wow. _That _is _really _domestic_, thought Rose, and she burst in giggles as the Doctor threw up his hands.

"I give up," said the Doctor, as Rose laughed breathlessly. She had to grab at his jacket as he pretended to leave, but then he settled back beside her, and Rose secured him by dragging him under the blanket with her.

"Stay, please?" begged Rose. "I'll stop teasing." She wrapped herself around him while worming into the circle of his arms. The sleep-inducing science book that had been in her lap fell away out of her reach, so her only source of entertainment now was the Doctor. She sighed appreciatively as the Doctor kissed the top of her head and sank into her pillows beside her.

"I'll stay then," he said. "If you behave. The door's open. I can call out for help, you know." But even as he spoke, his free arm (the one that she wasn't lying on) moved, his hand searching for her hand. Finding, his fingers intertwined with hers and he re-established their telepathic link. Rose smiled as she gazed at their fingers. So many times they'd held hands like this, and she'd never known what he was capable of.

_I wouldn't do this with just anyone, _said the Doctor. _Just you, Rose._

At a loss for words, she simply gave his hand a squeeze and looked up at him. His eyes regarded her and fixed her in place. After a long moment, she sensed an impulse from him, and closed her eyes as he leaned in for a kiss. His warm mouth was gentle, and Rose was only too happy to let his tongue taste and tease hers. Even the dizziness was worth it when she couldn't catch her breath, but all too soon the Doctor was drawing back, looking at her in concern.

Rose moaned in her head as she gulped for air. _I wish I was well. _And unbidden all the thoughts of what she wanted to do with him were arising in her mind.

_Drat. Now I do too. _The Doctor was sitting up and looking at her with his eyebrows raised nearly into his hair. She wondered what he'd picked up from her.

"You know," said the Doctor, "with time lords, there's always more than one way of doing things."

There was something in the way he said it. His eyes were intent. Rose was in for something new, she could feel it.

"Close your eyes," said the Doctor, and Rose obeyed.

* * *

Rose's eyelids fluttered closed with nary any hesitation. Sometimes, the Doctor marvelled at just how much she trusted him, even in the midst of him keeping his thoughts from her. She loved him, he'd always known that... but he never had let himself... until he was in this human body, he supposed. These past few days, he understood a little of why: He could still lose her. These bodies were so mortal. And losing hurt.

_Doctor. Eyes closed. Now what? _

Rose's impatience made the Doctor smile. "Relax," he said. "And breathe. Every muscle in your body, tell it to relax. Start from your toes, or from the tip of your head, it doesn't matter... I'll be here. Just breathe and put your whole body at ease."

Her breath slowed and deepened. The Doctor sensed her attention on her body, slowly moving through it, obediently following his instruction until every part of her body felt at rest. "Now breathe," instructed the Doctor, and he closed his eyes as well, shutting out the world until there was only darkness, and the sound of Rose's breath and his own. Beneath it all, the _lubdublubdub_ of two hearts (Rose's and his) was a slow, constant drumbeat. It almost felt like his old body again. The Doctor smiled a little sadly.

_You're melancholy now, _said Rose.

He tried to deny it but he couldn't. _I am, _he admitted.

_So why are we doing this? Or what are we doing?_

_Keep your eyes closed. Keep your mind open. _He concentrated on the feel of Rose's fingers wrapped in his. Sent his awareness through her fingers, into her hands, arms, body, legs, and feet; reached into her mind and visualized her bathed in warm light, and received an answering _ooh _from her that made him smile.

_I could almost feel that physically, _she said.

_I know. Another time lord mind trick. One not often used, which can basically influence the sensations felt by another, _the Doctor said, pausing dramatically. _You see the possibilities._

_Does it go both ways? _she asked, but almost immediately, without awaiting his answer, he suddenly felt caressing fingers running down his chest even though he knew Rose's hands had not moved. His gasp was Rose's answer. _Well, this is interesting, _she mused. _Do you do this with all the girls?_

_What girls? _asked the gasped again as the sensation of a warm wet tongue travelled down the center of his chest. _Rose!_

_This is brilliant_, he heard Rose exclaim. _It just takes... thinking?_ _I could do this all day!_

_It's all visualization, _explained the Doctor. _On top of the telepathic and physical link. Though _I _can't do this all day, Rose, the telepathic link already takes some energy out of me, unaided._

_The giant's ring probably would have been great for this, huh? _Rose remarked, as the Doctor concentrated on imagining himself planting kisses down her neck and chest, each kiss blossoming into a burst of pretty but harmless yellow fireworks. He sensed Rose's delight.

_Yes, _answered the Doctor. _Though I'm not going to imagine that the giants used it for anything like this._

_Probably not, _Rose agreed. _Oh_, she said, as the Doctor imagined taking one of her nipples in his mouth, then nibbling the other.

_You saw the illusions I sent you with the ring, right?_

_I did. The most beautiful sight I'd ever seen._

The Doctor moaned as his body felt a weight settling down upon it—Rose was picturing herself lying on top of him, her breasts pressed against his bare skin, her warmth radiating against his. Her kisses were like warm honey being poured onto his neck, and when he felt her mouth on his, he lapped at her hungrily, and she responded in kind.

_Those illusions, Rose... I wanted to show you those things for real._

_I know. _

_I mean, they were real places, Rose._

_I know._

_I never told you about the last place I showed you, where it was— _The thoughts were tumbling out before the Doctor could stop them. He could only do so many things in his head at once, stopping the confession wasn't one of them.

_I know. I know where it was...what it was. _Rose paused. _It was your home. And it's how I knew that you're... you. _

She had known it was Gallifrey. The realisation made the Doctor lose part of his concentration. His heart, his single heart was beating too hard and fast, so much so he could only feel his own body, and nothing of Rose at all. He groaned at his failure. But physical contact and some telepathic link remained. He held on to that as he willed his heart to calm.

After a moment, he felt Rose's (real) arms embrace him. Her (real) fingers gently massaged the back of his neck, and made him sigh in appreciation as he kept his eyes closed. She kissed him softly on his cheek and held her lips there a moment, until he felt a warm white light spread from where she touched him, through the rest of his body. The light seemed to carry love and healing. It was one of the strangest, yet most pleasant, things he'd ever felt. The Doctor nearly jolted out of the telepathic link with surprise, only opening his eyes after the light faded. The sight of Rose, in her white pyjamas printed with pink balloons, her mussed hair and shining eyes greeted him.

"Hi," she whispered with a smile.

"Hi," the Doctor returned, his voice cracking.

"That was... fun," Rose said, cocking her head to one side. But she looked at him with serious eyes. And he knew that _she_ knew part of what he'd lost now, part of why he ran. He could never go home.

"You'll stay with me?" she asked.

The Doctor looked at Rose. She was asking the question about tonight, and the Doctor nodded. Just for a moment though, the Doctor had thought she meant otherwise, and suddenly understood what it was like to promise someone forever.

* * *

"Keep your voice down," Jackie Tyler shushed her husband irritably as she smoothed down Tony's windblown hair. The toddler lay slumbering peacefully with his head in her lap, and Pete nodded contritely as he turned back to the zeppelin's controls after announcing to his passengers that the Tyler mansion was within sight.

Rose looked at the Doctor amusedly. They sat together on the cabin's banquettes, and had been watching the view outside the airship's windows. It had been a long day, and now the lights from homes and buildings below them were twinkling on just as the stars above were making their appearance, one by one.

_As above, so below, _thought the Doctor. "It was a good day, wasn't it?" he asked aloud, but softly enough not to attract Jackie's attention. They were flying home after a long picnic Sunday, spent next to a quiet waterway, in a field that had been relatively free of cow pats. Delia had packed a veritable feast for the Tyler family, and the day had been spent eating, rolling on the grass, and waving to the passengers on the narrowboats going past. In fact, it had been a perfect day.

Rose had her cheek cupped in one hand and her elbow on the back of the banquette. Her other hand played with the Doctor's jacket absently. Meanwhile, the Doctor's fingers stroked the skin of her ankles as she sat with her bare feet up on the seat, her legs across the Doctor's lap. She was wearing a long flowing skirt that had clung to her legs all day in the English breezes, driving the Doctor to distraction.

"Yeah," said Rose. "I think it was just what everyone needed."

"How are you feeling?"

"Good," said Rose, and gave him a long, measuring look that ended in a smile.

"How good?" the Doctor asked.

Rose laughed, and just from the sound the Doctor could tell she was better—not a hundred percent, but up there. They smiled at each other as they felt the zeppelin slowing down, heading back to earth. It wasn't long before Pete landed the airship behind his mansion and lowered the gangplank. The engines were shut off, and the lights in the cabin dimmed a little. The Doctor swallowed a groan of disappointment as Rose moved to get up and retrieve her sandals from the cabin floor.

"Sweetheart, if you wouldn't mind getting our things off the zep, there's a good girl," said Jackie. "We'll be putting Tony to bed." Of course, Pete Tyler was now doing the heavy lifting of carrying his son in his arms. The boy was still deep in slumber, stubborn hair still sticking up everywhere despite Jackie's best efforts. "We'll see you two in the morning," said Jackie.

"Goodnight," Pete said in a loud whisper as he stepped out of the zeppelin carefully, with Jackie following behind.

"Goodnight," Rose said, as she finished putting her sandals back on. She looked around the airship cabin, sighing as she stood up and reached for a picnic basket. "As soon as I can walk, they put me back to work," she grumbled good-naturedly. "Doctor, if you could help me..." and then she yelped as the Doctor caught her hand and pulled her into a tight embrace. His mouth descended on hers faster than she could blink. She returned his deep kiss as best as she could, though her tongue was really no match for his. When she started to sway, his hands steadied her until she wrapped her arms around his neck.

_You should wear skirts more often, _suggested the Doctor as he snogged Rose but good. Pointedly his hands drifted down her back. Rose gasped the Doctor pulled her hips tightly against his, and there was no mistaking the arousal that she felt pressing against her. Rose moaned softly in answer, his desire (and her own) overwhelming her. It had been too long since the last time they'd had physical intimacy like this, and Rose was ready to let him. And reading her thought, the Doctor half-walked, half-supported her as they moved from the banquettes over to the zeppelin's control panel. The swiftness of their progress took Rose a little by surprise, and she questioned the Doctor with a look.

_You wanted to be shagged in the TARDIS? _asked the Doctor, though he already knew Rose's answer. It hadn't taken too much mind-reading to know Rose had thought often about it, and though he couldn't do that now, well, there was _this. _He lifted her so that she sat on the edge of the zeppelin's console. They broke off their kiss so Rose could push the button that locked the ship's controls, but not before she reduced the light in the zeppelin to a soft glow from the emergency lights.

"Did you know at the time?" she whispered incredulously. The Doctor was kissing her neck hotly as his hands moved on her legs, stroking her thighs beneath her skirt and slowly but surely gathering the cloth up higher and higher. She moaned again as his warm hands finally made contact with her flesh, slipping beneath the skirt. "Sometimes," he whispered against the skin of her neck. "It could get a little distracting," he said, which was an understatement. _And honestly, the TARDIS probably wouldn't have liked it._

"We're going to be banned from _this_ ship if Pete ever found out," said Rose, trying to balance herself on the airship's navigational keyboard. If she had to compare though, the zep probably beat the TARDIS in comfort, because even she had to admit her daydreams of being shagged thoroughly on the TARDIS console would have been quite painful in reality.

"Right now, I don't care," the Doctor spoke between gritted teeth as he found the waistband of Rose's knickers. "What are you wearing these for?" he couldn't help asking in exasperation.

Rose laughed faintly as she tangled her fingers in his hair and let him slip her underwear down her legs. She was ready for him, wet and impatient as he quickly undid his own trousers to free his erect length from his clothing. Her fingers sought his cock, stroking and guiding it to her waiting flesh as he lifted her legs and wrapped them around him. She shuddered the tip of him brushed her _there_, and the Doctor swallowed a moan—not only was she wet, but her clit was swollen and throbbing. She was rubbing herself insistently against him, and it took every bit of the Doctor's self-control to hold back. At his waist, at his back, she hooked her legs together at the ankles, securing him in a trap he was only too happy to submit to. As the tip of his erection found her entrance, they paused there for a moment to savour it.

_I love you, _said the Doctor. _You know that, right? _His hands cradled her neck tenderly even as his lips and tongue ravished her mouth.

_Yes... O_h god_, yes... _Rose moaned into the kiss as the Doctor entered her slowly. Slick as she was, she still had to adjust to accommodate the Doctor at this new angle for them, but once she did she was rewarded by his deep groan as his hardness pushed and filled the depths of her. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, gasping with the feeling of him in her, the slope of the console perfect for feeling like she was utterly impaled on his length.

_Keep your eyes closed, _commanded the Doctor. Rose nodded, sending him a non-verbal assent as they again paused there. The tips of his fingers found her temple, and suddenly the darkness behind Rose's eyelids was banished by the soft orange glow of the TARDIS interior. She saw the space clearly in her mind's eye.

"How are you doing this?" she asked breathlessly.

_You should know by now, Rose, _thought the Doctor with amusement as he nibbled her neck. _Me. Still part time lord._

_Obviously I need reminding._ Rose gasped as the Doctor started moving inside her. _A. Lot. Of. Re-minding... _

And then words had no more place as sensation overcame them. The Doctor moved his hips, gently at first, drawing out slowly before pushing forcefully again into Rose, using her breathless sounds as a guide as he varied his stroke and then found his own favourite. He felt Rose's body tightening, approaching climax as he kept up his rhythm and tried to keep the vision in his mind at the same time, the vision of him fucking Rose, shagging her brains out in the middle of his precious TARDIS, bringing her to heights she'd never felt before and never would with anyone else. He felt her arms tighten around him as she mewed softly, and the sound filled him with a savage urge to give her all, and hard. He groaned as he felt himself approaching, Rose crying out as an upward jerk of his hips brought her _there—_he felt her cresting and crashing with a wave of bliss, her insides throbbing with the feel of him, squeezing him, milking him, urging him onward even as she gasped as he kept on pushing mercilessly into her centre. He felt her amazement as she felt herself building towards a second release, and heard her mind wordlessly calling him. He quickened his pace to join her this time, letting go of the image of the TARDIS, sobbing as he felt her muscles contracting around his cock, her molten, silken core drawing everything out of him. Through their link he felt her grasping for her second climax, and with her help, he found the angle she needed, the _friction, _the steady, firm stroke that soon sent them both soaring so high that it seemed they were in the air again. Another cry, and Rose was over the second crest, and this time the little spasms in her body sent the Doctor right after her as he came with a painful groan, burying himself deep. For a moment, his body was no longer under his control, no longer his at all. But gradually, sense returned. He grew aware of her trembling body in his arms, his shaking legs as the last of his seed emptied into her, her hot breath on his neck, the wild thumping of his heart and Rose's, so close to his.

The Doctor's legs threatened to fold as he withdrew, spent, from Rose's body. "Woah," she said, as she caught him, or tried to catch him, and there was a short, brief tumble as they both slid down to the floor. He was content to lie there, and Rose seemed to be as well as she laughed breathlessly and lay down next to him. When she had finished rearranging her skirt and when the world stopped moving in crazy ways for him, he made himself decent again, before finding Rose's hand with his and laying it on his chest. They lay there for long moments, both incapable of speech. It felt like forever before his heart returned to its normal pace, which was fine because the Doctor could enjoy that feeling of completeness and peace as they both recovered. After ten minutes though, through their mind link, the Doctor felt the Rose searching for words to break the silence. He smiled as she found none.

Because he knew what to say. And it was perfect.

"Marry me," said the Doctor.


	10. Part X: The Last Part

**Author's Note:** This story's been inside me quite a while (since the broadcast of Journey's End), and it began, strangely, with the last five words I knew I had to end it with. Often, I wasn't sure how I was going to get here, so it's been extremely bittersweet for me to have reached the finish—because now I'm going to miss working on it! I thank all of you who have read this story, and if you've commented before or will comment on this last chapter, thank you times infinity!

_I won't go__  
I won't sleep__  
I can't breathe  
Until you're resting here with me  
I won't leave  
I can't hide  
I cannot be  
Until you're resting here with me _— Dido, "Here With Me"

* * *

**Part X: The Last Part**

_Marry me._

Surprise choked Rose, and she rolled over to cough. To say that the question had come out of nowhere was to have understated things, and even when she recovered her breath, she reached for words, for thought, for something, anything, that would make sense of what she'd just heard. Sitting up, she looked at the Doctor, who seemed to find it all funny. Or at least, he had a wide, open grin on his face that Rose could not understand.

"You're joking," she said.

"No I'm not." Her accusation stripped his grin off in a hurry, and his brown eyes turned serious.

Rose blinked. "But you can't ask...you can't ask me if you're reading my mind. It's not—it's not fair if you ask and you know what the answer is!" said Rose.

The Doctor raised his hands to the sides of his face and wiggled his fingers. "But what's the answer? Rose, I'm not reading your mind right now."

Rose bit her lip. "Then why did you ask?"

The smile was back. "Rose, has it occurred to you that maybe I asked because I wanted to?"

"Because you..." Rose sat back on her heels and looked at him. The time lord who didn't (used to) grow old and hated domestics and who'd left a trail of broken hearts behind him. She was too shocked to think. He seemed sincere now. She hadn't even seen the question coming, being distracted and him always being mysterious and keeping people at a distance. Sure, there had been that question long ago, asking her how long she'd stay with him (and it was the other him), but that was just _staying._ She grew aware that she was staring at him, agape, but she was still well and truly at a loss for an appropriate reaction. A part of a brain wondered if this was a test, a trick, a joke.

The silence grew too long. He sat up beside her, touched her hand gently and held her fingers in his. "Breathe, Rose. I'm sorry if that seemed to come out of nowhere. But it really didn't."

"It did for me," she said, but as she thought more about it, she supposed he deserved the benefit of the doubt. They had been apart for a while... _years._ She didn't know all that had had happened in that time. And he was looking at her, his heart in his eyes, chasing away rational thoughts from her head. There was only the beating of her heart, thundering painfully in her chest.

"Rose? I'm sorry, Rose." He looked down, deep in thoughts that were hidden from her, and she read in his face his growing uncertainty. She wanted to say something comforting, but she couldn't. She wanted someone to comfort _her_, or make him take the two words back. Because they changed things. And the change made her see anew.

"Rose?" he asked again.

Rose shook her head violently. "Shut up," she said. She didn't recognise her own voice when she said it—it was rough and strained. She gripped the Doctor's hand hard, hard enough to cause pain. But if he felt it, he gave no outward sign. His face was solemn, but there was shock in his eyes, and _that_ gave her some satisfaction. He would know what it felt like then.

"You can't do this. Doctor, you just can't. I don't even know your _name_. I don't even know that much about your past." The words were tumbling out from a place of hurt deep inside her, and she hadn't even known it was there. "You said before that you were a dad, once, and then you never said anything more about it. I didn't care to pry then. _I don't care now_," Rose said, her voice growing in anger. "I just can't answer if... it doesn't feel right. I'm not _just saying_ _this so_ you start telling me things. I don't want you to do anything you don't want to do. And I don't want you asking me because," her voice broke, "Because you think I'm all you have, or if you thought I had to want it, or if you—_Don't say anything_." Rose delivered the last three words with a growl, her eyes blazing when she saw the Doctor open his mouth to interject. "And don't—"

She released his hand then, and backed away from him. She closed her eyes, because the look on his face when she broke their physical contact was breaking her heart. She felt hot tears sliding out from beneath her eyelids. "I'll stay with you forever," she whispered. "_I will._ Doctor. I just... I just..."

She couldn't think. Couldn't breathe. His name on her lips tasted like poison. It wasn't his name. Not his real name. Even the earth elemental had pointed that out. It wasn't him. All this time she'd wondered at his true name, but she'd never asked, and he'd never offered. Now it felt like something she had to know. And he should have known she needed to know. He was a stranger to her. She was conscious of that now more than ever. And he couldn't just _drop_ this into her lap and expect...

She rocked back on her heels, turned her head and opened her eyes. The view of the airship cabin blurred in her tears, and irritably she fumbled for her knickers, found them, and stumbled to her feet. She headed immediately for the exit, all the while avoiding looking at him. She needed time to think.

"Rose, wait. Just wait, please..."

She stopped; she was already out of the door, on the middle of the gangplank. Her chest hurt with buried sobs, and she couldn't catch her breath. And despite it all, she wanted to hear his voice. She thought of everything she'd ever wanted him say to her but never said. And some things, the _other_ Doctor had still refused to say. The damn time lord who could prattle on and on about nothing. And this Doctor who would keep on carrying the same secrets. She waited, and when he spoke, it was halting and unsure.

"I made a promise, Rose. To myself. You'll never lose me again. I promised myself. I won't leave you again. So to me, it just made sense. To ask you." His voice was low. "At least I thought it did. And I'll ask again, when... when it's right, when—if you want me to. Let me fix it. Whatever you want, I'll do, because I know I'll want it too. Whatever you need to hear—" he swallowed, "I'll try... Just let me ask again. Because I will. Maybe you just thought I never would."

His last words rang true, and they made Rose pause. She looked back, blinking to clear her sight, and saw him. His hair and clothes were in disarray. He was half-sitting up, half on his feet. His eyes arrested hers. A light shone in them whenever he looked at her, and it shone now.

Her vision of him blurred again. She blinked to gaze at him a moment longer. A small sad smile crept onto her face that was gone in the blink of an eye._ I'll stay with you forever. I will. _There was nothing more she could think of to say. Rose turned again and left the zeppelin behind.

* * *

The Doctor stood up slowly, not taking his eyes off Rose as she left. She never looked back, and soon she disappeared from his view. He remembered to breathe, noting the pain at his heart and in his throat. He swallowed. That hadn't gone well. It had gone terribly, in fact, and he'd hurt Rose in the process somehow.

The Doctor sighed as he ran a shaky hand through his hair. He replayed the scene in his head, and knew now that the question (more a request, really) had come out of nowhere for Rose, because she'd not been privy to his thinking about it since... well, he'd thought about it before, and during that time in the library with River Song, but more lately since he'd found Rose again, and ever since this human body and those damn earth elementals that had put the idea into his head. And he'd kept those thoughts behind a locked door.

Rose's words also gave him more to think about. She was right. There was a lot he'd never told her. Some of it was stuff he'd never meant to hide, only holding it in because he'd been around so damn long and there was only so much he could talk about even for the gob on this body. Some of the secrets, though, he'd kept because they might have scared her, or any sane person, away. _He _ran away. Always the coward. Too much blood and fire in his past, lives that had been sacrificed for him, whole worlds that had been destroyed, and a true name that, once translated, captured all his fears of what he really was and would become. Why should she want to know? How _could_ she want to know?

But he recalled the smile. Her smile, so brief on her tear-streaked face, one of the last expressions she'd shown him before turning away. That smile had been for him. Even in her hurt she offered comfort. Even to monsters, she offered comfort. That was Rose. That was always Rose.

The Doctor closed his eyes.

He would tell her. She wasn't a girl anymore. Whatever she wanted to know, if it was what she wanted, he would tell her. The cost to him didn't matter. What mattered was what she needed to hear. What she deserved to hear. Things like "I love you." Except this would be his past, and his future, and things much, much uglier than three simple words.

"_Allons-y," _the Doctor said softly to himself as he looked around the airship's cabin. He drew a deep breath, focusing his mind back on the present, on picking up the pieces. He spotted the picnic baskets and retrieved them, hooking them on his arm. He unlocked the zeppelin's controls, then set the computer to sleep. He closed the door to the zeppelin as he left. He descended the gangplank (avoiding the last step that was still smushed from the Giant's Causeway) and stepped onto the grass.

And was blinded by a rift opening in front of him.

* * *

Jackie Tyler had just changed into her nightgown when two things happened at once. First, Pete received a call on his blasted phone, and while he was answering, there was a knock on their bedroom door.

"Mum? Mum, I think I need you."

There was no mistaking Rose's voice, and Jackie knew her daughter well enough to catch the note of distress even through the heavy wooden door. She pulled it open at once to see Rose breathless and in a mess. She looked like she'd been crying, and Jackie had had enough experience with men to identify it immediately for what it was: A lovers' tiff.

"Oh, love," she stepped into the hallway and took her daughter into her arms. "What's the silly Doctor done now? Everything looked fine between you two a half hour ago."

Rose didn't answer straight away, and Jackie waited patiently as she rubbed her daughter's back. Behind her, Pete suddenly spoke. "Torchwood call. I've gotta leave for a bit."

"Oh, you're bloody kidding me," said Jackie to her husband over Rose's shoulder. "It's a Sunday night. You can get someone else to shoo the stupid aliens off."

"No, I can't. This one was close... but not for you, Rose. You stay." Pete briefly stroked Rose's hair as he took in the sight of Jackie comforting their red-eyed daughter. He kissed them both, quickly, first his wife on the lips then Rose on her forehead, before shrugging into a jacket. "I'll try not to be long," he said, already dashing down the hallway and down the stairs.

Rose reflexively tried to follow. "Should I go h—" she began.

"Look at you," said Jackie, holding her daughter back. "You're in a state. Let your father handle it—he can get the Doctor's help if he needs it. So what is it now?" She led Rose into the room and sat down on the bed. Rose sat beside her and wouldn't meet her mother's eyes. Her fingers picked at threads in her skirt.

"This is going to sound so stupid, mum."

"Well, I've heard all sorts of things from you before about the Doctor," said Jackie Tyler. "'Mum, he time-travels.' ' Mum, he's changed his body.' 'Mum, he's—'"

"—Proposed."

"What? Pardon. _What?_"

Rose raised her head and looked at her mother. "He asked me to... marry him."

"What? Just now? And you ran to me?" Jackie tried to understand. It was nice for a mother to still be needed, but she had thought she only needed to be there for Rose's disappointments with the Doctor. Not this. "Are you two... not compatible or something?" asked Jackie. "Is he still alien where the deed is done, is that it?"

"No!"

"I'm just guessing 'cause you're not giving me anything," said Jackie. "A proposal's no reason to cry, is it?" She touched her daughter golden hair gently. "I have to admit I never thought he had it in him, him being an alien..."

"I know," said Rose. "Mum, I _know_. That's just it. I know so little about him, it made me realize I don't know anything at all—"

"That can't be true, love, you're exaggerating."

"He's really _hundreds_ of years old—"

"And looks pretty good for it..."

"I had _no _idea he would want to marry—"

"Some people like surprises, love..."

"I _think_ he's had children before..."

"Oh." Jackie actually had to stop at that one. "Do you think aliens pay child-support?"

Rose gave a bitter laugh. "I don't know!"

"You could ask him," said her mother. "That's all you have to do, isn't it? This man... you never forgot him. You jumped universes for him. Did the stuff that you didn't know matter before?"

"No, _well_... no..."

"Sweetheart, if it bothers you now, either you find out what you need to know, or you go back to it not mattering."

Rose bit her lip as she thought about it. "Shouldn't it matter? Isn't that something... married people...do, or should do, know everything about each other?"

Jackie snorted. "How'd you get such crazy ideas about marriage with me raising you while I was single all those years? ..._Oh._ Oh, love."

Rose looked at her mother, her eyes wide and questioning.

Jackie sighed. "I thought I did such a good job with you..."

"You _did_, mum..."

"Sweetheart, we don't know everything. I didn't know everything about your father when I married him. I just loved him. I didn't know his crazy schemes, didn't know I was going to lose him, didn't know I was going to have you." Jackie had one arm around Rose, and she squeezed her daughter's shoulders affectionately. "So many things I didn't know, love... and it all turned out OK. I wouldn't say it was perfect, but it turned out alright." Jackie looked around the room before she looked at her daughter again. "It was you and the Doctor that brought me here, love." She smiled as she touched her daughter's chin gently.

Rose returned her mother's smile.

"And he loves you, Rose, in his own weird alien way. All it just means," said Jackie, "is that you just give him any answer you want. Because it'll work out."

"Thank you, mum," said Rose, sniffing. Her eyes were dry now, and the smiling came a bit easier after listening to her mother. Gratefully, Rose gave her a hug, and Jackie returned it.

"And if it doesn't work out," said Jackie, "You just tell me. Okay? I'll sock 'im."

* * *

White light seared into his eyeballs until the Doctor threw up an arm to shield his sight. The rift was so close that it almost seemed like he'd walked right into it, and hurriedly he backtracked, reassured by the metallic gangplank under his feet.

A large shadow stepped out of the light, and the Doctor squinted as he peered carefully through his fingers. It was huge, and looked familiar.

_Doctor._

"Al?" he said uncertainly. This was unexpected, but it looked like the black earth elemental... the light from the rift glimmered behind his bulk and made him darker, and it was hard to see the details. "Is that you? Any chance you can shut that light off?"

_I'm not staying. This is a short visit, Doctor. _The large shape took one step towards him, and the Doctor saw that it _was _Al, all glossy black glass with silver veins, and a ring that glowed on his hand when he communicated.

The Doctor craned his neck upwards to look at the creature's diamond eyes. "How are you and the missus?" he asked conversationally.

_We are fine._

"What brings you back here?"

_You do. _

The giant bent down slowly, and stretched a hand before the Doctor. It was hard to see at first, but there was something small in the middle of its massive hand. It looked like a stone cube.

_We wanted to give you a gift._

The Doctor approached carefully. "This thing?" He looked up to see the giant's eyes glittering, and looked at its palm again. Slowly, he took the object that was offered. It was a perfect cube that just fit into his hand, four inches on each side, smooth, black in colour, and fairly heavy. It was cold, like marble. When the Doctor had a firm hold on it, the giant straightened and started to withdraw.

"You're leaving?" the Doctor asked in surprise. "So soon?"

_You'll forgive me, Doctor, if the events of my last visit still stay with me._

"Oh, right," said the Doctor, recalling the guns and the iron cage and the hostage exchange. "Well, thank you for the gift." He hefted it up in one hand. "If you don't mind me asking... what is it?"

The elemental turned around and was already walking back into the light.

_It is a gift._

"We covered that," said the Doctor, but got the feeling that the conversation was over. "Thank you again then..." He squinted as the edges of the earth elemental disappeared into the rift, then had to close his eyes as the giant slipped into the light entirely. Only when it was black behind his eyelids again did he reopen his eyes. The rift was gone. In front of him, the lights of the Tyler mansion shone in the night. It wasn't enough light to examine the giant's gift more closely. Stone cube firmly in one hand, and baskets on the other arm, the Doctor started moving in long strides across the grass, heading towards the door that would lead him into the kitchen. He became aware of running footsteps rounding the side of the building as he approached.

"Doctor?"

Pete was jogging towards him, and the Doctor immediately stopped where he was, curious. The man was looking over his lawn, his brow furrowed in bewilderment. "Doctor," asked Pete, "Did you just see anything here? I just received a call—"

"About a rift?" said the Doctor. "Yeah, you just missed it." He resumed walking, reaching the mansion's back door in another few steps. "Um, do you mind getting the door?"

Pete Tyler joined him, opening the door and letting the Doctor through. The kitchen was empty, Delia having retired for the night. The Doctor walked to the kitchen table, and set down everything he'd been carrying.

"So you saw it? There was a rift?" asked Pete. "And... what's that?" His eyes were on the Doctor's new possession.

The Doctor shrugged his shoulders as he seated himself on a barstool next to the table. "It's apparently... a gift. From the giants." He reached into his jacket for his glasses, then put them on his nose to take a closer look. "Al—the black earth elemental, you remember—came back to, well, gift it to me. The rift appeared, Al popped in, handed it over, popped out. It was amazingly quick."

Now that he had his glasses on and the cube under better light, he saw it was a thing of beauty. Cold blue-black stone that was dark as night, and embedded with glittering flecks of white that looked like stars. The four-inch cube was unusual, and quite attractive. It looked like someone had managed to capture the night sky into solid form.

"Did he say what it is? What it does?" asked Pete as he bent over the kitchen table to peer at it without touching.

The Doctor picked up the cube, hefting it thoughtfully. "No, he didn't. Paperweight, you think? Feels pretty solid. Even looks a bit like him." The Doctor gave the stone a shake. "Maybe earth elementals make these as a hobby."

Pete gave a small chuckle. "Well, you can always use the scanners at Torchwood tomorrow to see if there's anything in it..."

The Doctor frowned in thought at Pete's words. The elementals' rings _had_ looked deceptively simple. Rose and the Doctor hadn't even thought anything was remarkable about the one they'd found until the psi-effects... and that was it.

The Doctor placed the cube squarely in his left palm. _Open_, he commanded, and the seamless stone responded, drawing a quiet gasp from Pete. The top half of the cube divided itself into four equal smaller cubes, which slid outwards to reveal a space in the centre of the bottom half of the stone. And what was inside made the Doctor's jaw drop. He couldn't believe it. He dared not believe it...

"Do you think they're making a hint?" asked Pete Tyler.

Two, small, silver rings.

* * *

The lights were dim in Rose's room when the Doctor peeked in. She was nowhere to be seen, and not in her bathroom either. The Doctor was puzzled. It was late. He'd been talking with Pete for an hour in the kitchen, discussing plans for the future, things like wages and identities and numbers and property laws, stuff that would have bored the old Doctor to tears but held a new fascination for him in this new world. But right now he couldn't find Rose in it.

He swallowed his worry, his fingers gripping the closed stone cube in his hand more tightly. The cold edges of it pressed into his palm, and he used that feeling to cut through his emotions with cool logic. If Rose wasn't in her room, then she was simply somewhere else. It didn't take long for him to find her.

He opened the door to the guest room. Rose lay on his bed that was scattered with his clothing, curled up on her side, her head and hand on his pillow. He saw that she had changed her clothes, possibly taken a quick shower before putting on a simple cotton shift for sleeping in. Her hair spilled damply across the bed linens. He got the feeling that she had been waiting for him. As he padded softly across the floor to the bed, her eyes opened and looked at him. He sat on the bed in the empty space in front of her. Her eyes briefly noted the strange stone in his hands, then looked up at his face again.

The Doctor carefully set the stone aside on the bedside table then placed his hands reluctantly in his lap. He ached to touch Rose, but would not do it without a sign from her. And he was tongue-tied, suddenly afraid of saying the wrong thing.

Rose sighed. "It's just me," she said softly, and she wiggled the fingers on her hand that was on the pillow. The Doctor clasped her hand, reassured by her warm flesh captured in his, astounded by her words. It wasn't just her. She was his whole world. He couldn't take his eyes off her as he brought his legs up to lay on the bed next to her. Her smile. That tiny smile, it was there.

Rose breathed a soft sigh as he settled beside her. They gazed at each other, faces just inches apart, their linked hands between them.

"Tell me," she said, "how time lords marry. Then ask me again."

The Doctor smiled and blinked at the moisture in his eyes. He saw Rose's answering smile that came from his joy. Carefully, the Doctor composed his thoughts. He kissed the soft skin on Rose hand's as he did so, before intertwining his fingers with hers and re-establishing the mind link. He threw open all the doors to his memories. Slowly he moved closer so that his lips were beside her ear.

"I'll do better," he said.

He told her his name.

**END**


End file.
